Universal Shift
by Ellen-PippinsMcgee-21
Summary: In a millisecond my entire world had changed. The universe had shifted. A connection like a magnetic force sparked between us, as though my every pore was aching to be closer to her" Brady's imprint story is not as simple as you may expect.
1. Stop and Stare

Disclaimer: Everything recognizable in this story was created by Stephenie Meyer, I'm merely playing around with it.

**AN: Hey guys, so this is my first ever story! Hope you like it, and please review!!**

**Reviews=updates! **

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**Chapter One: Stop and Stare**

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_**Brady**_

Realistically, I was never really the nervous type, so it didn't come as a surprise when I woke up on the morning of my first ever teaching placement job feeling quite mellowed and lax about the whole thing. I rolled out of bed at around seven, not too early, but definitely a stretch given that I'd spent six hours of the previous night running laps of the perimeter of the Reservation, before finally managing to hit the sheets at around 3 am. It may seem a little strange to you, yes, I mean, you'd probably question why any body in their right mind would bother with something like that, right?

But, actually, the whole thing gets a hell of a lot stranger than that.

Okay, I think the best way for me to explain it would be to give you a quick rundown of the day it all changed for me. So I was 13, bam smack in the middle of puberty when things started to change, _fast. _And I don't mean, awkward gangliness and weird semi-moustache fast, I mean _fast. _Within a month I had gone from a pretty average 13-year-old kid, to being six foot tall a whole lotta muscle heavier. And that was _before _the phase. Okay, so I'm getting a little ahead of myself, let me explain. My entire life, I've lived on a Native American Reservation in the Pacific Northwest. My family's tribe, the Quileutes, are supposedly descendant from wolves, which I had never really thought too much about until the day I turned into one. Yup. That's it. Seriously.

After the growing thing, which could mostly be pinned down to my preadolescence (and didn't seem quite so strange considering I was about the seventh guy on the rez to shoot up to massive in the last year or so), came the weird part. After a while, I started to get hot. Don't get the wrong idea, I don't mean hot in the Adriana Lima sense of the word, I mean _hot. _ My body temperature skyrocketed. I was running a temp that meant I should theoretically be dead. I had no idea what was going on, so I sort of kept quiet at first, and it turned out I didn't need to ponder on it for long because around 10am the next day I was a massive, hairy wolf. Even remembering the pain of the first phase seems to hurt. Excruciating. It all happened so fast too, one minute my stupid sister runs over my BMX with the car, the next I'm transformed. It's the anger that triggers it initially. So of course, once I was met by my new brothers, and they explained everything to me it was a lot clearer. I grew like another four inches in the week or so following the phase, and by then I was officially buff. Growing pains were a bitch, but don't get me wrong, it didn't hurt to be tall and ripped at the age of 13. Sam, the pack's Alpha had to explain it all to my parents. I know it all seems to freaky for words, when you're on the rez, and you've grown up listening to stories and legends of the tribe, and you're ancestors, learning it's real is a shock, but as soon as you do know, everything seems kind of right. There is an initial freak out, but at the same time, on some other level, you're not really that surprised, that's how it was for me anyways. And my parents were really good about it. My mom grew up on the rez herself, but married a townie. One of the "pale faces" as legend would call him, who she met going to community college up in Port Angeles. Although not a Quileute, Dad had always been absorbed in the Native American culture. He and mom actually met in an advanced NA History class, and for as long as I can remember he'd been just as clued up on the legends of the tribe as anyone, so he found it, to be honest, somewhat fascinating that they turned out to be true, and over the moon about the fact that I was so involved in it all. It may sound like a weird reaction, but that's just us I guess.

That day I learned that myself, along with Sam, Jared, Paul, Embry, Jake, Quil, Leah and Seth, were officially the "protectors" of La Push, working to keep away our natural enemy: vampires. Yip, they were real too.

So then, now you're pretty much caught up, and I'll get on with it.

There I was, twenty-one years old, (finally I was the age I actually looked), and ready to start my first "big boy" job, as Collin had teased.  
Collin was my best friend, a wolf who phased for the first time two days after myself, he too, only 13 at the time. We'd pretty much been through everything together. Although he had been in my grade at the rez school we had been more like acquaintances than friends, until we started to have something pretty major in common. Without trying to be sappy about it, Collin was pretty much the best friend I could imagine, and we'd just always had each other's backs, I guess.

So anyways, I'd gotten out of bed and made my way to the bathroom to shower: the one perk of being up at this hour being the lack of competition for it, since there was no chance anyone else'd be up and ready for one. I strolled into the somewhat grotty excuse for a bathroom and began what I was sure would become my morning routine. Yeah, the bathroom was gross but when you lived in an all male environment, you did the best you could. This is where I'd lived for the past 4 years, a reasonable sized apartment above the La Push Hardware store, which Seth managed. His job meant the owner cut us a great deal on the lease, and it'd pretty much been a chop and change situation for about five years. Seth lived there at first with Embry and Carlos (one of the 7 new wolves who phased in what is known as the _Great Renesmee War_). Later that year Collin moved into the fourth bedroom, followed by a brief period of Quil making five by squatting on the couch, before Carl left to go to college in Seattle with his brother and fellow wolf, Nick. Quil got his room, but that was right before Embry, Jake and Quil started up their auto shop. Jake got a loan from the Cullens, which allowed him to buy a great property which had a small house attached behind it, which they three then shared. So that was when I moved in to wolf manor, aka the hardware store apartment. At that point I was just there with Seth and Col, but it's changed several more times since, and now it's Me, Seth and Ozzy here, and, like always it works pretty well. I guess when you go into each other's minds on a regular basis you reach a kind of closeness that makes living together pretty natural.

After my shower I dressed in clothes I'd thought seemed typical of my new role as the young Gym teacher. After living through years of minimal clothing, wearing only what I picked up from the floor, consisting generally of a simple pair of cut off anything's, sans shirt, I'd realized it was probably time to at least give the illusion of normalcy, as I would be teaching groups of teenagers all day everyday from now on. So I had on one of the few pairs of simple navy sports shorts and a black and white adidas t-shirt, and headed out to grab some breakfast before I headed out. Of all the things I'd skip out on to save time, as a wolf, meals were not one of them. I threw back a massive bowl of frosted flakes and made for the door.

The Rez high school was only a fifteen minute walk from the apartment, (by regular people's standards that is), unphased, I still could have made it there in about 3, but I was early, so I just walked. I didn't have to meet with Mrs. Adik, the principal until 8.30, so I knew I was way too early anyways, but I'd planned to meet Rachel in her classroom so she could show me around before I started. Rach, the wife of Paul and sister of Jake, was probably the only teacher here who didn't teach me herself when I was in school. She had been here about 3 years teaching English, and had been a great help to me when I was trying to get the job in the first place.

When I made it to the main building everything was exactly as it had been in my days as a student. A little run down, a little graffiti here and there, but mostly that generic classic "school" feeling to it that seemed to ooze from the place. I myself hadn't even made the full four years. Both Collin and I had got fed up and dropped when we were fifteen. Collin's dad flipped and told him as long as he wasn't in school he was gonna work. So Collin was quickly given a job at his dad's friend's construction business, and had been there ever since. Being that it was one of my more stupid phases, after a couple months I realized it wasn't going to be as fun and relaxing as I'd thought. My parents weren't exactly thrilled either, and started talking to me about paying rent, which with no money, no job, commitments to the pack, and the removed attraction of being able to hang with Collin, pretty much woke me up a little. I didn't go back to school, the only attraction it held for me was playing sports, and I didn't know if they'd take me back anyway. So I ended up getting my GED at 17. By that time living poor and wasting my life didn't seem so attractive to me anymore, and when my Dad suggested teaching it was sort of a revelation. It's weird; it was almost like I'd always known that was what I'd wanted to be, without ever having really considered it.

So here I am, ready to start my first day, back at the place I'd once been desperate to leave, and I felt...excited.

_**Nola**_

"Shit!"

Of all the mornings in my life that my body had decided to be in tune enough to actually be woken by my alarm clock as soon as it went off, _today_ had to be the day I slept right through it.

There was just no coming back from that, I was too late. I had no hope. I leapt out of bed with exactly 15 minutes to get ready and start the walk to school or I'd be late for sure. And even then, I'd have to take no longer than 5 minutes to make the stupid walk- which I might add was one I'd never taken before, only been told by Pete that it was "a simple 5-10 minute walk..that way".

Great, it was sure to be brilliant, first day at a new high school, first day of senior year, and I was going to show up late and disheveled.

After the fastest shower of my life I threw on the clothes I had thankfully selected for myself last night. It was September, but it was also the Pacific Northwest and a cold morning so I had to switch the denim shorts I'd picked for some regular jeans. My skinny legged dark wash ones, which went okay with the simple distressed Charcoal rolling stones t-shirt I'd picked.

I then went back to the bathroom to examine the damage in the mirror. Well, I'd worked with worse.

In the six minutes I had left I quickly brushed out my pale blonde hair, sweeping it into a simple ponytail. I put some moisturizer on my face, but decided against any actual make-up, just brushed my teeth, and put on a little apple lip balm, which I then shoved in my back pocket.

I grabbed my bag, threw in some gym clothes and my new books, and headed for the door.

Ran into the kitchen fast enough not to be heard coming. Never a good thing with newly weds around.

"Ahem" I said bitterly, as I tore through the room, pushing my feet into my black flats and grabbing my jacket.

Mom just laughed quietly as they pulled apart.  
Gross. Pete was cool and all. I wasn't some petulant teenager, rejecting the stepfather or anything. I just didn't need to see the parentals sucking face at the breakfast table.

"Well, bye" I added as an after thought before running out the front door.

"See you later", and

"Good luck today" was what I got back.

Starting the walk to school, I realized I'd forgotten my watch, so I got my cell phone out of my bag to check the time.

8:52. Okay, so I'd saved some time skipping breakfast and racing through the morning. But I still only had eight minutes to get to school before it started.

I'd moved only once before in my life.

I was seven, in elementary school and we hadn't even changed states. I was born in Westminster, Maryland and had lived there those first seven years. My mom had been doing the single parent thing since I was a baby and my brother, Jordan was 3. So then, the year I was seven, mom had been working as a personal assistant for about 4 years and got a job earning a better salary in Bethesda. So we moved.  
She met Pete, the Lawyer about two years ago, and they got married earlier this year. Pete is a Quileute, a Native American, and after a long amount of time across the other side of the country, he decided he was homesick. He reckoned he'd made enough money for us all to pack up and move back to his reservation, for him and mom to live out their married life there or something. My mother, the idealist, was over the moon about the move.

So I got uprooted from my comfortable enough life and friends on the east coast. But it was okay, I was getting over it. Slowly.

The one plus side to the whole thing was the new proximity to my brother.

Jordan had been going to Berkeley, which meant I'd seen him four or five times in the last two years. But now, we were just up the coastline from him, so seeing each other wouldn't be quite so difficult- or expensive.

Okay, so when I finally arrived at school I'd made all right time. Meaning I got there about 40 seconds before the first bell sounded, meaning I could make it to my first class alongside everybody else. I found it easily, as I had been shown the way when I came for a visit last Tuesday, and, let's face it, in a school with 107 students on the role, the building layout wasn't exactly complicated.

I was thankful, at least, for the fact that Mom and Pete had waited until August to move, so that I could at least start new on the fist day of the school year, and hopefully the transition wouldn't be quite so daunting.

The school was about eight times smaller to the one I was used to though, which made things a lot more difficult, everyone already knew each other- well.

Whatever. I was trying to make the best of it. I figured if there was nothing you could do about something, there was no use complaining about it for very long, it wasn't going to make a difference. So I would just grin and bare it. Well- maybe not grin- I didn't want to make myself look deranged or anything- but regardless, I was pushing through.

_**Brady**_

The morning pretty much went by in a whirlwind. God that sounds corny. But it did, anyway.

Obviously when I was training I did a few placement positions to get experience, so I'd done a few days here and there, but I always knew I'd never have to go back to the same place everyday, so there was a definite importance to the job I had now. It was mine, my job. Everyday I would come back and teach the same students, I was now Mr. Campbell. I was now…a _teacher. _

Okay, so don't let me get carried away, I was still teaching alongside the guy I was gonna replace, and would be for the first three weeks, as sort of a trial situation. It was quite unofficial. Normally I would have had to come on as a student teacher for a couple months before I started, but Coach Wade (I can't seem to call staff by their first names, I mean they were _my _teachers not so long ago…) was retiring, and needed to do so fast, do to health issues. So when I applied, Rachel helped to put in a good word, convincing the Principal I was responsible enough for the job, despite my lack of experience, and, quite frankly, they were desperate. There wasn't exactly a multitude of high school P.E. teachers floating around, and if there were, they sure as hell weren't applying for positions at tiny Rez schools anyway. It also probably helped that I was Quileute myself, and Reservation born and raised, which seemed to please parents around here. So that was how they came to this arrangement. Coach Wade didn't have to face another La Push Winter yelling at high schoolers, and I was in.

So there I was, 3 hours into my first day and everything had gone pretty smoothly. The weather was okay, considering it was early September, so some of the Summer warmth was left in the air, and it hadn't rained today, so we'd been able to have morning classes outside on the football field. I'd taught a class of shy freshmen this morning, before my juniors second period. I just had my free period, which I spent the most part of chatting to Rachel, who thankfully also had no class then, and was the only member of the staff I felt comfortable around- there's just something not right about sitting in a staff swapping water cooler chat with the guys who once made you scrape gum off the bottom of the bleachers.

"So any way, how's it all going?" Rach asked from her position behind her desk in her empty classroom.

"Yeah, surprisingly good" I replied.

We then talked for a while about nothing in particular. She warned me of a few potential problem kids, in the grades I hadn't taught yet, and just before the period was over went out to call Paul. They, and many of the other pack couples can't seem to go too long without talking to each other. Thing is, there's this thing, and it may sound kind of weird, but then after the whole werewolf thing I reckon you can handle it.

It's called imprinting. At first we thought it was just another of the crazy tribe legends, until we realized those weren't exactly as crazy as we'd thought. Sam, was the first, he imprinted on his now wife, Emily.

What it basically means is that you've sort of found your soul mate, it's like a love at first sight thing, but apparently it's more than that, something that means you're connected to that person forever, and they matter to you more than anything. I didn't really understand it that much until it happened to Collin. Just over a year ago now, he met Jaime. She's awesome, a 20 year old tom boy who fits in perfectly and makes Collin happier than I've ever seen him, so it's hard for me to feel bad in any way about the concept of imprinting.

It's supposed to be rare. At least we thought it was until it started happening more and more. As it stood the imprinted couples were, Sam and Emily, Jared and Kim, Paul and Rachel, Quil and Claire, Jake and Nessie, Mathew and Sarah, Ozzy and Avis, Nick and Carrie, and Collin and Jaime.

So anyway it was then time for my fourth period class.

Looking at my simplistic timetable, I found that they were a class of seniors. In theory, I thought, this should be easier than the younger students I'd had this morning, but regardless, that's the upside of this little arrangement I guess. If they don't shut up for me, they'll shut up for Coach, and by the time he's gone, I'll hopefully have their respect.

So I made my way outside, knowing full well how late most students tend to be to class, I felt no need to rush.

As I got there, there was about six or seven of the twenty-one students in the class changed into gym clothes and assembled on the football field. Coach wade stood in front of them, checking off his register.

After a while everyone seemed to be there, and Coach shushed everyone, and did the introduction bit.

"Alright everyone, new gym teacher this year" whoever didn't wasn't already shushed was now all ears,

"This is Mr. Campbell" the coach spluttered in his massive baritone "and as most of you know, I'll be done here in a few weeks, so he's going to be taking over for me when I go, and until then, we're running joint classes"

The hand of one of the more vocal boys at the back shot up at that,

"Yes Curtis" Coach blared

"I thought we weren't allowed pot in school sir" the boy said, feigning confusion which was met with a splutter of laughter from the boys in the class, It seemed he may have been one of the ones Rachel was talking about.

Coach didn't quite follow,

"Well I don't know what you boys think you're on abou-"

"It's just that you said we were going to be having 'joint' classes sir" he quipped, to more laughter.

I sensed the need to cut in "well, seeing as we do have that school rule, and considering Coach Wade and I smoked all of our supply during free period, I guess we're just going to have to settle for gym, alright?" I shot back. It seemed to work, as the laughter continued, this time, _with us_ so I was then able to settle them down, before Coach set them off on a warm up.

"Wait just a minute" he yelled as the students started on their run, "get back here."

"Says here there's a new student I've gotta talk to, who's Nola Lincoln?"

"I am", said a voice from the crowd, who started to make her way forward.

"Right, the rest of you, get going!" he barked.

And the other students began to run their lap of the field, leaving the coach, myself and this blonde girl behind.

Coach began to ramble something to her about parental consent and getting things "straightened out", but I stopped listening. Because right then, the eyes which would become my favorite things to look at for the rest of my life met mine.


	2. Runaway

Disclaimer: Everything's Stephenie Meyer's, she created the awesome world in which I am merely playing around

**AN: Hey guys, glad to hear there's some people out there reading, and liking the story. **

**Hopefully you'll stick with it- and please keep those reviews coming!!**

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Chapter Two: Runaway**

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_**Nola**_

By fourth period I was in the mindset that my day could have gone a lot worse. Initially, I had thought that it would be next to impossible to make any friends here, at least not this soon anyway. I'd been pretty set on the fact that everyone would know each other way too well to let anyone else in. I mean, I was right, but only for the knowing each other part anyway. Everyone was pretty friendly on the whole, and in my first period English class I was sat next to a girl, Keira, who was great. She was open and friendly right off the cusp, but not in that super perky, annoying "everything's just swell" kinda way either. I soon learned the perk of going to such a ridiculously small school- there was pretty much only one to two senior classes for each subject. So once I met Kiera, I found I didn't have to worry as much- because we had identical timetables.

Also, as luck would have it my appearance at the school was not the main event of the day, as I had anticipated in a place this small. Apparantely, someone else had started new this year. There was supposedly a, quote- 'drop dead gorgeous' new gym teacher. The whole school seemed to be buzzing about his presence. It seemed he was the first new teacher for a while, and had generated a lot of hype. Hype which was, as I was told by Amy, a particularly girly one of Kiera's friends, more than lived up to. It was funny how consumed the school was by this new development, and with gym coming up fourth period, I'll admit, I was more than curious to see what he was like. I'd assumed it was just that excitement generated by the fact that he was meant to be really young, which seems so rare in teachers that it seems unnatural. You kind of immediately think they're cool, just because they're only competition in the cool stakes were usually born around 20 years earlier.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't a cynical person, I just wasn't the type to let off high pitched squeals everytime I got together with some friends. I was, I suppose 'girly'. In the sense that I put effort into what I looked like most of the time, and did enjoy shopping and clothes.I think the best way for me to describe my girliness factor is to say that I'm girly, I'm just not, _teenaged _girly. And despite only having known her a day, the way she dealt with the day's gossip was enough to show me that Kiera and I had that in common. It was nice to have found a friend so easily, especially with so many things working to turn me into an outsider. I was part of a very small minority of students who were not, or at least didn't appear to be native American. I think I'd built that up to be more of an issue than it was though because going by today, no one really cared.

The bell rang for fourth and we left our history lesson and made our way towards the girls' locker rooms, to change for gym.

Having put on the simple, short red stretch cotton shorts and tight white t-shirt I'd packed in my bag, I was more than ready to get moving. Summer was definitely over. This was La Push, and from what Pete said, the sun was a very rare feature around here. I felt the goosebumps creep up my arms as we made it outside, around the same time as the last few entered the group and the teachers went through the motions of beginning the lesson. It was clear from the tittering of the girls in the group that the new teacher was creating his stir. From our spot at the back Kiera and I were out of his sightline, and I had a boy in front of me tall enough to fully block my view.

So then I had gotten pretty curious as to what all the fuss was about. I heard the older guy everyone just called 'coach' introduce him as "Mr Campbell", at the same time as I shifted enough to give myself a clear view.

Wow. So like I said, I'm not the giggly, dithering idiot type, so I didn't swoon or anything. But seriously, this had to be the most attractive guy I'd ever seen in real life.

He was tall, really tall, obviously so standing next to coach a very short, quite fat man you'd be amazed had spent his life teaching _physical _activity.

But anyway back to "Mr Campbell". He had a deep russet tanned skin tone, perfect features and was wearing a t-shirt tight enough to practically scream out how muscular he was. It was weird. And he _was _young. He probably looked any where between 21 and 25. It was weird, I couldn't explain it but as I watched him saying something to some boys further over to the right of me, I felt….wierd. Almost, mesmorised.

It sounds totally cheesy and strange but I really felt like I had some sort of connection to this person. Like he was someone I'd known forever without us ever having met.

I gave myself a little shake, removing myself from my little trance just in time to be told to start running laps as a warm up.

Just as I was setting off though, Coach called me back. At this point in the day I was used to teachers having to sort out extra stuff at the beginning of the class, so when I was told I'd need written permission and all-clear health forms to participate in some activities throughout the school year, I was unfazed.

In my peripheral vision, I noticed Mr. Campbell (it felt extremely weird to be calling someone so close to my age by a formal title) walking over to stand just beside Coach.

I didn't know if he'd noticed me staring before, he hadn't made eye contact at least, so I hoped not, but even still, I didn't want to seem like I was gawking at him the whole time. So I tried to keep my eyes on the form in my hand for as long as seemed normal.

When I finally looked up there he was.

I couldn't really explain what happened, because I couldn't figure it out myself. In the instant our eyes locked, I felt my stomach clench, for a split second. His gaze was piercing, as though he was looking right through to the very depths of me. It was one of the strangest things I'd ever felt, and I had know idea what the hell was going on. It seemed my confusion was mirrored in his face when, for the tiniest of moments, he looked dumbstruck. This all occurred within the space of around 2 full seconds, so not really long enough to make Coach aware of anything out of the ordinary, but despite his now relatively normal facial expression, I knew he'd felt it too.

I did all that I could do, folding the form in my hand and slipping it into the back pocket of my shorts, a started off on a run, to rejoin my class. Utterly confused.

_**Brady**_

I knew exactly what had happened. I've heard enough imprint stories, and seen it happen enough in my brothers' minds to know immediately that this was it.

Despite all this prior knowledge though, I'd never really understood the _feeling _of it until it happened to me. It was like in a millisecond my entire world had changed.

The universe had shifted. A connection like a magnetic force sparked between us, as though my every pore was aching to be closer to her.

Listen to me, I can't believe I'm thinking like this. I was always one to snigger when one of the guys talked like this, but it was the only way I could explain it.

I quickly became aware of what my face must have looked like and switched back into a more neutral expression. The last thing I wanted to do was freak her out.

But I could tell the connection between us was strong. Strong enough for her to feel it too, even if not in such a monumental way as I did, but her face said it all; she'd felt _something. _I tried not to stare as she pocketed her note and started to jog away, but every time I looked away I felt like my eyes would retract back to her, she was pulling my gaze in.

She ran to catch up with some of the slower of her classmates, and I fought hard to resist the urge to follow. The connection between us stretched out further and further by the increasing distance she was creating.

Fuck.

I had to really think about this. What the fuck do you do when you imprint on one of your goddamn students?

That had to be one for the record books.

All I could think was that I had to get away, I had to think this through, and I didn't know how the hell I could do that while trying to take her fucking class for a gym lesson. I didn't think about screwing up my first day, I tried to ignore how utterly wrong it felt to move further away from her; I just muttered something to Coach about suddenly not feeling well, and being incredibly sorry, and I ran.

At least, with some luck it would have appeared I was desperate for a bathroom to puke my guts out, which would hopefully save me being doubted by Coach.

As I didn't have my own office until after he retired, I ran to the male staff toilets, sitting down in one of the stalls.

Shit. I really hadn't realized at first the type of mess I was in. She was literally all I could think about, so it was hard to imagine waiting until she wasn't a student to be able to really even talk to her.

As a senior, if she wasn't eighteen already she would be soon, so with an age difference of only three years I didn't feel that creepy about it. But that said, I still can't exactly go around dating one of my freaking students.

I was completely and utterly emerged in deep shit.

I leaned forward, putting my head in my hands. I closed my eyes and could see her face, her eyes looking deep into mine only a moment ago.

God she was beautiful. She wasn't Quileute, not NA at all, which made me curious about what her story was. I wanted to know everything about her, but more than that, I wanted to _know _her. She had this flawless creamy skin, which was lightly tanned and looked incredible. I could hardly come up with the words to explain her face. Just that she had such a striking beauty, it was utter perfection. And her eyes. Those eyes would do me in. They were a pale icy blue like I'd never seen before. The kind of eyes you needed some legendary poet to explain. They were just so captivating.  
Damnit this is so fucked up.

I finally imprint. She's the most gorgeous fucking creature I've ever seen, and she's totally and completely out of bounds. Perfect.

I had to talk to someone. The closest outlet was Rachel, so although there was still around 15 minutes left of the period I left the bathroom and headed for her classroom.

Once I was outside the door I could see through the small window in it that she had a freshman class set silent reading to themselves while she worked at her desk.

I didn't have to debate going in or not, because Rachel then looked up, noticed me standing outside the window and came out to the corridor.

"What's up?" she asked warmly, with an air of concern, I was, as she was well aware, supposed to be teaching after all.

"Um, shit, um, well…" I started

"What?"

"I imprinted" I blurted quickly.

Rachel's eyes went wide, then, remembering where she was, promptly returned to her classroom and left me standing there.

I confusedly waited for a minute, actually trying to decide whether that was going to be the end of our conversation, when, I heard Rachel telling her class in a very 'teacherish' voice, that she was "just going outside for a few minutes, and did not expect to hear any noise other than that of pages turning".

And then she was outside again.

"Okay, so you're going to have to explain to me what happened" she said in a tone which was obviously trying to be calming.

"Well, she was in my gym class just now. She's a senior, so it could be worse, but still she's my student for chrissake, my fucking student.."

"Okay, Brady, so, well, who is she? What's her name?" Rach prompted.

"Her name's Nola," her name came out all funny when I said it, I wasn't trying to be soppy, but the way I said it made me sound completely lovesick, "I didn't catch her surname, but she's new here, just started today"

"Well, like you said, it could be worse, I suppose, but you know the rules, teacher- student relationships are an absolute no, it's grounds to remove you from the position entirely, Brady."

"Of course I know all that, and I haven't even spoken to her, I just don't know what the hell to do, I mean, can you imagine if straight after you met Paul someone had told you that you couldn't so much as talk to him informally for like, a year?" I said.

"I know, it's complete shit. But look, I guess we'll just have to talk about it. Weigh up the possibilities. You're just going to have to make some pretty tough decisions, Bray." Rachel said sympathetically. "So how are you out of class anyway, did you feign illness or something?"

"That's the one" I said.

"Well look, I know it's a bit of a shitty impression to give for your first day, but you can't be here right now, go home, and I'll cover for you. And besides, if they really believe you're sick, they can't make any stern judgements. So go home, and just try and clear your head. Think it all over" She instructed.

"Thanks, Rach," I didn't need to be told twice, I felt like I was suffocating just being here and having to think about everything while trying to start my first proper job at the same time, "Really, thanks heaps, I'll catch up with you later on."


	3. God Only Knows

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer created it all.**

**AN: So, I created a photobucket, where I'll post pics related to the story.**

**Right now it's got some pictures of what both Brady and Nola look like, so head over and have a look if you want. The url's on my profile.**

**Please, please review!!**

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Chapter Three: God only Knows**

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Nola_

He left. He just left.

I got back from running laps, no less confused than when I'd started, only to find that he had gone. When another of the girls asked after him Coach just said that he'd gotten sick and had had to rush off.

I wasn't buying it. Now more than ever I was convinced something had happened, and I knew he felt it too. This was all just too weird, and I couldn't talk to anyone about it for fear of appearing just plain crazy.

I could see how that conversation would go,

"you got a feeling?, a _feeling?" _

So there was really nothing to do but wait and see what would happen next, if anything at all.

The rest of the day went by without any real incident, and by the time I was walking home, I was officially obsessed with this Campbell guy.

I got home to an empty house, so I just made my way upstairs into my new room and slumped onto the bed. We'd been here about three weeks, and I was a relatively organized person, so my room was all set up with everything pretty much where it needed to be. Obviously, I had not gotten this particular trait from my mother, who had resolved not to unpack the kitchen, simply to get everything out in time for it's use, so, three weeks later we still had a couple of boxes taking up residence there.

I lay there for a while, letting myself space out thinking about today. No, I thought, I was just being silly. Whatever it was, (and it still could have been nothing at all), would figure itself out and I just needed to stop obsessing over it.

At least that's what I tried to convince myself.

_**Brady**_

Back home nothing seemed that much clearer. Seth was downstairs working, and Ozzy was out, probably somewhere with his own imprint, Avis.

By the time I'd gotten too sick of my own thoughts I'd decided to call Collin. He had work today, but it was now after three, so there was a good chance he could leave, or already had.

"Yeah?", he answered.

"Col, it's me"

"What's up, how was today?"

"I imprinted on one of my senior students."

"Kay, I'll see you in five"

And that was it.

He walked in about 3 minutes later.

"Okay, first of all, congrats, man, shitty situation and all, but how awesome is it really? Okay, so tell me everything though" He shot at me.

"Well, fuck man, I know what you mean, I just literally feel like nothing else matters now. But at the same time, I know that's stupid, and I've gotta think about things more clearly than that cause we're talking about my entire career here, like as in, I literally couldn't teach again, not that I ever would have really started."

"Yeah, that does pretty much suck" He said. "But tell me about her, c'mon, you know you want to, did you talk to here yet?"

"Well, her name's Nola, and she's not Quileute, Caucasian actually, and fucking incredible. So beautiful I can't even- but I shouldn't be talking about her like this anyway. I haven't spoken to her, she probably wouldn't even want me, and even if she did, I've gotta think about her. She'll be wanting to apply for colleges soon, what college is gonna take someone with scandal surrounding them-AAw god! I feel like a creep for even thinking these things, I'm being so presumptuous, how do I know she'll even like me for fuck's sake?"

"Okay, shut up", Collin stopped me. "You're over thinking this way too much," now, you're right, if you two were to get together and be found out the outcome would be shitty for both of you. But as a young teacher in the school, you're what, two or three years older than her? Being friendly isn't that weird, just don't make a big thing about it. And at least having a few friendly conversations with her would be a start."

I really didn't know. All I wanted was to talk to her, and basically to spend as much time with her as possible. But I really had to make some decisions here. I felt like if I tried to be just friends, and maintain a relationship appropriate of a student and a teacher, I may have been too tempted to try and make it into something more.

But on the other hand staying away from her completely seemed like an impossibility.

I talked to Collin about it for a bit longer, but came out of it no more resolved. Still, it helped to talk to someone, even if it was just to vent about how shitty the situation was.

The next day I awoke feeling a strange mixture of anxiety and excitement. Just the prospect of being able to see her again had me eager to get out of the house, but there was still this massive grey cloud of indecision. What the hell was I going to do about it all?

_**Nola**_

At least by the second day I had managed to wake up on time.

I got out of bed and was able to take a shower at a regular pace, unlike the day before when I had been on fast forward.

Stepping out, I wrapped myself in one of my thick, deep purple towels and went to blow dry my hair.

Today I put a little more effort into my appearance. I knew I was being silly. Whatever I had imagined had happened yesterday was nothing to obsess about- especially not as heavily as I had been for the last eighteen hours. But, as it was pretty probable I'd see _him_ today, I couldn't stop myself from trying just a little harder than I normally would have.

Standing in front of my mirror, I examined my appearance.

I wasn't someone who spent an unhealthy amount of time thinking about what I looked like, to be honest. I put effort into my outfit choices, but very rarely wore make up or thought about having to class myself as "pretty" or not.

But, being realistic, I suppose I knew that I was. By common standards, anyway. I don't know, I'd always thought it was kind of stupid that everyone in the world seemed to have this preconceived idea of beauty, as though it was definable. The idea that you should be judged on whether or not you have something as trivial as facial symatrey seemed a little stupid to me. But over the years, I've had enough comments to know that other people generally liked the way that I looked. It was because I looked like my mom, I guess. She, Paula, had been a model, once upon a time. I'm pretty sure her career only lasted about a year, from what I understand she got out before she really took off in the industry. When she was 19 she'd lived in New York with some boyfriend, and had been "discovered", and signed with some big agency. Mom didn't really like to talk about it, to be honest she seemed embarrassed that she'd ever even lived that life in the first place- said it was 'superficial'. The way she told it she got out while she could, and didn't regret it for a second.

My mother was sort of my hero growing up. To me, she was the type of woman who personified beauty. She was gorgeous, but everything she did, she did with passion and conviction. A woman like that has no trouble finding someone to love them, but my mom never went looking. Up until she met Pete, she never had so much as a first date since my father. She always put Jordan and I before everything else, and it wasn't until Pete came along, at a time when she obviously thought we were old enough to handle it, that she finally gave in.

So that was the main thing for me, when I thought about what I looked like. I wasn't proud of my appearance because I looked 'pretty'. But I was more than happy to look like a woman who was closer to perfect than anyone I knew.

I applied a small amount of black mascara, which always made my strangley light eyes stand out even more, and decided to wear my hair out today. I brushed it out until it fell in it's natural waves down my back.

I found my tight black True Religion jeans in my drawer and wore them with a pale blue sixties style three quarter length knit sweater.

Today it looked like I'd at least have time for breakfast, so taking my bag and everything I'd need for the day, I walked downstairs to the kitchen. Pete was sitting at the table reading the morning paper.

"Morning" , I said in what I hoped was a cheerful enough tone.

"mornig hon," he replied.

As I got myself some cereal I debated doing something I'd thought of last night.

I sat down opposite Pete and began to eat my breakfast, but my obsessing got the better of me, so I decided to go for it.

"Hey, Pete, do you know anyone around here called Campbell, the surname I mean?" I asked.

"Umm.," he leaned back in his chair, looking off into the distance, trying to place it, "well, it's definitely not a Quileute name, obviously. So I geuss maybe someone from out of town who's moved here. I really can't remember anyone by that name though…Campbell..no, sorry,"

"Oh, that's okay." Shit. My last scrap of dignity in my own mind and I gained nothing from it. Brilliant.

"Why do you ask? New friend at school?" he inquired.

"yeah, something like that." I said vaguely.

After breakfast I headed to school quickly. What would happen next I had no idea, but whatever did, I wanted it to happen as fast as possible.

_**Brady**_

There was no avoiding it, if I wanted any kind of could reputation at the school, there was no way I could flake out two days in a row. So I methodically got ready and left for the school.

After the first bell I was heading for the gym when I felt her. She was close, and approaching. I decided to challenge myself. I was going to have to be around her sometime right? So I hung back, and walked a little more leisurely towards my destination.

And there she was.

Just rounding a corner up ahead, she was walking along, talking to a tall senior girl with short, spiky black hair.

As we continued to walk towards each other it was as if she suddenly became alerted to my presence. She looked at me, our eyes meeting before I quickly tried to act normal and avert my gaze.

As we'd passed each other and she was out of sight, I turned my head, without really meaning to, taking one final look before I rounded the corner and she was gone.

This was so much harder than I'd thought.

God she was magnificent.

She was wearing a sweater the exact same colour as her eyes- making them seem so intense, they were all I wanted to look at.

But I really could not think like this. It was hard to believe it could feel so _right _and wrong all at the same time.

The whole way to fourth period I had tried to come up with some kind of plan of attack, some way to deal with this situation that would miraculously solve everything.

It was nearing the end of my free period when I resolved on one thing.

I was going to do as best as I could to ignore the imprint. For now.

It seemed crazy, and right then there was no way I could have realized just how hard it would be, but I felt determined.

I'd convinced myself that I didn't want to put her through any unnecessary drama. She didn't need it, and I would just have to get over it for now.

What would happen later on, I had no idea, but I had no right to just come in a fuck up her life. I wouldn't do it to her.

Feeling like I had made a bit of a breakthrough, I called Collin and told him the news- to which I was told I was being insane.

"dude, remember when Jaime went to visit her brother in Portland? I was a mess" he reminded me.

As if I needed reminding- trust me, "a mess" was an understatement. He was completely depressed and she was only gone five days. Five fucking days.

But I was determined to push on with my plan no matter what. It didn't matter to me what I was feeling. As far as I was concerned, I was making a decision for her benefit, and I would handle whatever.

So in fourth period Gym class I acted entirely teacherly.

Explaining to coach I'd had some weird twenty-four our stomach thing, but felt fine now, I spent taking the class for baseball.

The whole time the need to get close to her was insane. It was so intense, because she was so close, but I guess I'd found a sort of defiance in my plan, so got through the class okay, doing my best to treat her like a regular student.

It was near the end of the hour that the plan was really tested though. The rest of the class had gone to change into their regular clothes, but she hung back a little. As I was packing up the gear, I noticed she was sort of loitering around, as though debating whether or not to stay. I slung the bag of bats over my shoulder and started to head inside. As I got closer to her she seemed to have made up her mind, and decided to say something to me.

"So you're feeling better then?" She asked with an awkward smile.

Fuck, why did this have to be so hard. I did what I knew I'd have to if my plan was going to work: I didn't take the bait.

I just said:

"Uh, yeah." And kept walking.

What. A. Jackass.

It about killed me to leave her like that, just standing there feeling confused and rejected. And it was all I could do not to turn around. But I could only tell myself that her thinking I was an asshole now, was better than her letting me fuck over her future.

_**Nola**_

I felt weird. Really weird.

Why the hell did I care this much?

I didn't even know this guy, I didn't even know his first _name_ for Christ sake!

So why did I feel like shit?

I'd built it up in my head that the big problem was finally building up the courage to strike up a conversation with him, but hadn't even really considered the fact that he could just brush me off like this.

God, that sounds so conceited, I know, but for some reason I'd decided yesterday that there was some sort of connection there.

It was strange, because as he walked away from me then, it even sort of reinforced it. It was like I could _feel_ him, and feel him getting further and further away.

I wasn't spiritual in any sense, really. So it was weird that I was talking like this, but I was really sure that there was something between us.

So then why had walked away? Why did he barely give me a second look? Why did I feel so rejected?


	4. No Air

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all. I own nothing. :)**

**AN: So I'm having a great time writing this story and it's cool to hear from a few of you. But tbh the review count has been a bit disappointing- please, please give me aquick review- I don't care what you say, just be honest, it'd be really awesome to hear from more of you. **

**Plus, the more reviews I get, the more inclined I am to post sooner. **

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Chapter Four- No Air**

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_Brady_

Two months.

For two months I carried on like nothing was strange.

Nothing was different. There wasn't this intense, excruciating ache whenever she left one of my classes. I didn't feel my body scream to be closer to her whenever we passed in the corridor. She wasn't on my mind every second I was awake, and didn't fill my dreams every time I actually managed to get some sleep.

Tragically, this whole thing had been made easier ever since I gave her the brush off. She definitely didn't want to know me now. She'd generally stay away from me as much as she could, which I theoretically should have been happy about, considering the reason I'd been ignoring all of this in the first place, but it only made me more depressed.

Which only made me more confused.

Every chance they got the imprinted wolves, most of all, Collin, would tell me what a huge mistake I was making.

By now it was common knowledge in the pack, of course, and as I was pretty much incapable of having any fun these days they were all pretty keen to snap me out of it. Collin and Ozzy were the worst. They both knew what it felt like to be that tied to a person. I'd expected Col to be on my case, just because I know if the role's had been reversed I'd have done everything I could to stop him from getting hurt.

And Ozzy's constant attempts at convincing me to try things with her were understandable as well.

He'd imprinted on Avis Uley, Sam and Emily's four year-old daughter. It had happened just two days after her birth, when we'd all gone round to "welcome the new baby", and Sam wasn't exactly thrilled about it.

He'd banned Ozzy from the house- a rule he had no choice to follow, considering Sam was the pack alpha. So for the first three weeks after he imprinted, he couldn't so much as set eyes on the girl. It wasn't until three weeks of Emily talking him round that Sam finally lifted the order, and seemed to accept the imprint, but let's just say, Ozzy wasn't going to be on good terms with Sam once Avis hit puberty.

It was because of all of this, that Oz knew what it was like to be separated from the most important thing in your life. So he thought my doing it by choice was simply ridiculous.

And to be quite honest, after two months of this, I was almost ready to cave. It was absolutely excruciating. But the problem was, I couldn't see a way out.

I still had no intention of doing anything that would put her future in jeopardy, so I could see no real alternative to what I had been doing already.

But something had to give, I'd barely smiled in weeks. It just felt unhealthy, and I didn't think I was really strong enough to take it much longer.

It was Sunday afternoon, and I had dragged myself out of bed only an hour ago, after I was up till the early hours on patrol the night before, and, quite honestly could see no good reason to get out of bed. But when Collin came round I was made to.

"Campbell get your fuckin' ass out of that bed and get out here, this shit is getting old" Said my "best friend", in his most 'no nonsense' tone of voice.

I'd known Collin long enough to know he could be fucking annoying when he wanted to be, so ignoring him wouldn't have really had any effect.

I walked slowly out of my room and collapsed into the sofa, Collin sitting down beside me.

"So look, he started, "I think you should seriously consider doing something about this man. Enough is seriously enough. And before you say anything, I get that you're thinking about it with her best interests and all of that, but what I think is, if you're not going to get together with her you should at least form a friendship. It doesn't have to be wired, or creepy, or alert anyone watching. But what it will do is get you to cheer the fuck up. C'mon man, you know where I'm coming from, just to see her and talk to her more than you are will be enough"

For a few moments I quietly considered everything he'd said. He had a point. With our tiny age gap, I doubted many people would think a few friendly conversations here and there were a bad thing, and anything would be better than what I'd lived through for the past two months. But the fact remained that I'd rejected her. She was unimpressed and uninterested, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I told this to Collin.

"Bullshit." He said. "You haven't tried! At least attempt it for god's sake! Do it. Tomorrow. I'm serious, you need to pull your finger out and actually try to make yourself _happy _for once, and there's nothing wrong with that you know."

After Collin left I really did think about everything he'd said.

I was a little unsure, but my whole body felt drained and exhausted, feelings I hadn't felt in a long, long time. Since I'd been a wolf, I'd had so much energy, but now I felt like all my energy went into fighting something that seemed like the most natural thing ever.

It couldn't hurt to do what Collin said, I guess. It was worth a shot, and anything would be better than the way it was now.

_**Nola**_

I'd got myself into a pretty good routine. I had lived here for almost three months, and felt pretty comfortable.

I knew my way confidently around La Push, had a nice little group of friends, and fit in nicely at school.

To be honest, I'd lost touch almost completely with my friends from Maryland. I'd always been useless at that- staying in contact. And I felt guilty about it, especially because of how many extensive ways there were to communicate nowadays.

My only real contact with my old world was my few and far-between emails to Chelsea, my closest friend from Bethesda. At first we'd emailed every few days, then it became a weekly thing, and now it'd gotten to the stage where it'd be about one a month. It was sad, but it was reality. Neither of us were particularly hung up on the fact that we'd probably never see each other again, it was just life, you grew apart, you moved on. That was something we had in common, I guess, we were both realists.

Pete had now started working again. He commuted to Port Angeles three days a week, working at a small firm, in a quiet city, taking on very few, and very minor cases. I knew he'd been a bit of a high flyer back in Maryland, he was expensive, and he was good at what he did, so money wasn't an issue for him. We didn't need the money, and the cases weren't life or death, this new job was really just a matter of having something to do I think. But he was really happy to be back home, I could tell. Which was great, I really liked Pete. The more time I spent with him the more I was convinced he was a truly good guy, which made me feel really happy for my mom.

Living back in his hometown meant we had some family (sort of) around, too. He had a sister who lived nearby, and his mom, Nattie, was around too. She was so sweet, the typical clichéd grandmother type, who seemed quite taken with me, considering I was, as she'd put it, "the closest thing she'd ever had to a grandchild".

About the only time I felt less than comfortable around here was at school, during Gym class. Now that Coach had properly retired, Mr Campbell had taken over as our full time P.E. teacher. He was nice enough, getting on with his job in a teacherish way, seeming completely normal. And he still remained the most attractive person I knew, but I still felt a little awkward whenever I thought about him.

I was being silly, and it was a problem I'd completely invented for myself, all in my head, I was well aware. But it didn't stop me from feeling like something was wrong.

That day, the first time we'd met I'd been so sure something had happened between us, even if it was just a feeling. And then when I'd tried to be friendly he'd shut me out, but had since been…pleasant. Not anything special, just pleasant. I don't know what had happened, it was just all very confusing.

I was beginning to realize I had a serious problem with over analyzing things. I really wish I could completely block him from my thoughts sometimes, and after all this time I still felt as though I was connected to him in some way.

Aargh, I hated it, it made me feel and sound so flaky. It just wasn't me. But no matter how much time passed it did not go away.

The next day, I was in school, the bell had just sounded letting me know it was time for fourth period gym class. I headed over there with Ali and Danielle, two of the girls I'd met through Kiera and had become quite good friends with.

Having changed into my gym gear, I walked into the school gym. I was early November, so the whether had become way too bad to even think about having our classes outside anymore.

The lesson went by mostly as it usually did.

But at the end of class, when Mr. Campbell realeased us all to go change before the lunch bell rang, everyone dispersed back to the locker rooms.

"Uh, Nola, can you wait up for a second, please?"

I stopped in my tracks. I didn't really know what to expect, and I was completely startled he was even talking to me.

I turned around, slowly. The confusion must have been pretty evident on my face, because just as everyone except us had cleared the gym, he walked closer to me.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to freak you out or anything. I-I mean you're not like in trouble. I just wanted to say, that I was shitty to you, and well, I'm sorry."

I didn't know what to say. I had been convinced that for all this time, he hadn't even given me a second thought, so why was he apoligising two months later?

"You were just being friendly, and I was a jackass, I mean I know I'm supposed to be your teacher, but there's nothing wrong with being friends, right? I was just stupid, and I've been awkward, and weird to you for a long time, so I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry, I guess…" while he said it, it seemed like he was really tearing himself up inside. Like he was battling with the right thing to say.

I couldn't seem to find _anything_ to say. It was just so weird, after all this time, to find out that maybe I hadn't been over thinking things as much as I'd thought.

But regardless to how confused and shitty he'd made me feel, I couldn't deny that right now, being close and talking to him, felt really, _right._

So I said the only thing I could think of,

"um, thanks."

He gave me a satisfied smile, the kind that didn't quite reach his whole face, but was still a happier expression I'd ever seen on him, and it made my stomach flip.

He then turned and began to clear away the equipment from our lesson.

I debated it for about two seconds in my head, before I decided, 'why not?'

"You want some help?" I asked.


	5. Morning Glory

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer rocks, she created the world I'm playing with. :p**

**AN: Hey, so the reviews have been pretty good- it's really cool to hear there are people out there enjoying the story. But, as always it would be awesome to have a lot more. I know a lot more people are reading the story than reviewing it, so it would be wicked to hear from some more of you. I don't want to be mean and with hold chapters until I get up to a certain number, hearing from you really does encourage me to write. **

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**Chapter Five- Morning Glory**

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_**Brady**_

I'd done it. I'd done it and it felt fucking fantastic.

At the time, I felt like a total douche, unsure of what the hell I was supposed to say, while she just stood there, confused out of her mind, her perfect eyebrows drawn together across her forehead.

How was I supposed to be _friends _with some one so freaking adorable?

But it'd have to do for now anyways.

As she'd helped me put away the gear, she seemed a lot more comfortable.

We'd talked a little, about nothing in particular. She'd told me she thought I was doing a great job with the lessons- which felt better than any compliment I'd been given in my life.

She did seem to enjoy the classes; she had a natural co-ordination, which meant she was good at pretty much anything she tried. I told her I'd noticed that she was doing well.

"I've never really found sports much of a problem, it's because I used to dance, I think. I did ballet, just for a few years when I was little, but it's supposed to develop co-ordination.

No matter what, I just couldn't seem to get past those eyes. They were fascinating. Whenever she'd say something interesting, which was all the time, they'd get this spark behind them- they just made her seem so vibrant, and alive. I could have stared into them forever.

After we had everything put away, I thanked her for her help, and gave her a big smile.

It was weird, but only now I realized how long it must have been since I'd actually smiled like this, completely unforced, just literally what happens to your face when you feel happy.

She smiled back at me.

I'd thought that I'd never see anything so beautiful as her face, the first time I saw it.

But this, the image of her smile, which crept right up to her eyes, was utter perfection.

Yup, "friends" was definitely going to be difficult.

_**Nola**_

That night, I felt so much better about everything.

I finally felt like I could stop obsessing and over thinking everything, and just wait and see what happened. Because now, at least we could be friendly to each other.

I know it still might have seemed a little weird to outsiders, but he'd said he saw no harm in being friends, and something about him just made me feel compelled to agree.

So from now on, whatever happened would happen, and I would deal with it when it did. It was great, I felt much more like my old self again, now that I wasn't constantly over analyzing every little detail.

The next day I dressed warm for school, the morning was extremely cold, I could tell from inside my room, so it was sure to be blistering outside.

Last weekend mom and I had gone on a girl's shopping trip to Seattle, and among other things, she'd bought an insanely cool pair of new boots. They were a rich brown leather, and were meant to look like classic riding boots. I slid my legs into them, and left the house right on time, arriving at school a few minutes before the bell.

He must have been running late because today, Mr Campbell strolled into school just as I arrived myself.

"Morning sir" I said in my best 'friendly' voice.

"Hey Nola, how are you?" he replied, giving me a warm smile that made my legs go weak.

I felt so strangely happy and comfortable in his presence, now that we were on friendly terms, anyway.

As we walked into school together we chatted for a while. It seemed the conversation came easily between us.

After I complained about the cold, he told me about the time Coach wade had made him run barefoot laps of the field one frosty winter morning, when he'd been a student here. It was fun, laughing with him. Like I said, it felt very comfortable.

"Well, I'll see you later on then," he said to me as we entered the building.

It felt wrong for some reason, walking away from him, but it was time for my first class.

"Bye", I said back before heading off towards English.

The following few weeks went by with much of the same- Small conversations here and there.

It seemed he must have lived close by my house, because I'd often walk home, or to school with him. I felt weird about asking where his house was, in case he got the wrong idea and thought that I was some sort of stalker or something. But I'd often meet him somewhere along my way as I walked.

It was great, because it gave me a chance to talk to him without it seeming weird to other people.

And truthfully, it became the best part of my day.

I don't even know why, I just knew that he was a person I could talk to forever. He always listened with a kind of intent expression, like he found everything I was saying to be of the highest interest, even if I was just jabbering on about some stupid joke someone had told, or some lame movie I'd been to see.

He asked about me a lot. I'd tell him about Maryland, and about Jordan in California, and how much I missed him. It was really great; he never made me feel like I was being silly about anything.

The only thing wrong with the situation was me. I could never stop the thoughts from entering my head. Thoughts there was no way I should be thinking.

By now, I considered him one of my closest friends, but I knew that I wanted more.

It was every time he smiled, every time he laughed, my stomach would flip. And sometimes, when he'd talk to me, he'd be staring into my eyes so intently that I felt like I couldn't work my legs.

It was so much more than physical attraction, though don't get me wrong, he looked unbelievable. I just literally felt like I could never get enough of him.

I know it seemed weird, which was the main reason I didn't talk to anyone about our friendship.

He'd told me a couple weeks ago that he was twenty-one, which only made him three years older than me. But it was just the whole teacher-student thing that I knew a lot of people would have a problem with.

But, like I said, it felt great, and I would take what I could get.

**_Brady_**

So for almost a month things had been going really well.

I'd developed a great friendly relationship with Nola, and despite the constant thoughts I forced myself to ignore that screamed for more, everything was going well.

I felt a little bit stalkerish about it all at first.

A couple of days after I resolved to end the ignoring phase, I'd followed the connection I could feel to her, and found where she lived. It was reasonably close, and if I took a quick detour out of my way every morning, I would usually meet her somewhere along the way to walk into school with her.

I knew she probably assumed I was just going about my routine, and we just happened to cross paths, but this had turned into a great way to spend some time with her, away from anyone who may question my motives.

Everyone in the pack was a whole lot happier with me- it gets more than irritating to share a mind nightly with some who's that down, so now that I was feeling better, so were they.

By the end of November Nola and I had become great friends. And I would eagerly anticipate those 10 minute walks every morning and afternoon- my favorite time of the day.

Today I woke up a little later, so had to race so that I'd catch her up.

I threw on some clothes and had breakfast quickly, and ran to just within sightline of her house. As I approached I slowed to a casual walk, but was pleased to see she was standing at her gate, waiting for me.

She saw me and her million dollar smile spread over her face.  
This would never get old. I don't think I would ever get used to the moment when my presence brought a smile to her face, a smile that made me feel like the world had stopped.

As I caught up to her we went about our usual chatter, swapping stories, laughing and teasing each other.

About half way along the walk she said,

"Um hey, what's your first name, I mean I know it's kinda weird, but it just seems silly that I don't know it"

She was right. I hadn't told her. Not intentionally, just because it hadn't really come up.

"It's Brady. Call me Brady if you want, I mean, you should- but then you probably shouldn't at the same time" I said, smiling impishly.

"Brady" she repeated as though trying it out. The sound of my name in her voice, it turned out, was another thing that made me want to shoot this whole 'just friends' thing to hell. And that was a list that was getting way too long, unfortunately.


	6. You Get What You Give

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all.**

**AN: Hey there guys,**

**Okay, so I only just realised that when I uploaded the last chapter, I forgot to paste in like a whole Brady POV that I had written for that chapter. **

**It's up now, so if you haven't read it already, go back and do so before you read this one- sorry about that :P**

**Please, please review and let me know what you think of this chapter. It's definitely my favourite so far, definitely. I'm really excited about where the story is going after this, so I'm going to try and get everything ready to update asap. But reviews encourage me to write faster, better, and more!!! So REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**

**Also, head over to my photobucket (url's on my profile) and take a look at Nola and Brady- then, let me know what you think of them! **

**Happy reading!**

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Chapter Six- You Get What You Give**

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_**Nola**_

Was it too weird to give your teacher a Christmas present? Probably.

But I'd decided not to care.

Christmas break was two days away, and on the Internet last night, I'd come across something that had given me an idea.

One day on the walk to school, Brady and I had had the music conversation, and he'd mentioned that at the moment he was loving the British soft rock band, "Aaron in Stereo". They weren't overly famous, but I knew some of their stuff and it was pretty cool. Anyway, online last night I'd seen an add for their US tour, which was going to start just after new years, and put them in Seattle on January 3rd. On impulse, I'd gotten excited and bought two tickets, thinking it seemed like the perfect gift for him.

But now, I was having second thoughts.

For one, he was my teacher, and although a Christmas gift may not be too weird, one this personal definitely was. And secondly, was that it wasn't really just a gift, it kind of implied I'd want to go, which definitely suggested seeing each other outside of school, which was definitely more than a little weird.

I didn't know if I was just over thinking things or not, but when I'd bought the tickets all I could think about was how much he'd love it, and quite honestly, how much fun it would be if we went together.

But now I just felt a little stupid.

I didn't even know if he had a girlfriend- not that this would be a date or anything, but if he did, he'd surely want to take her wouldn't he.

I suddenly got the image of him with some beautiful Quileute girl inside my head. That thought did not make me feel good. But what I had could quite literally be defined as a schoolgirl crush, so I'd just have to keep it silenced.

But surely he would have told me if he had a girlfriend by now. We'd gotten pretty close, and although we hadn't had the conversation I assumed he would have mentioned her if he had, surely.

On the last day of school, after two days of thinking it over, and changing my mind about fifty times, I'd resolved to give him the tickets.

I decided it would be "friendly" to give him a gift, and I wouldn't imply anything, I'd just see what his initial reaction was. I mean, just because I gave him concert tickets didn't mean he had to take me.

That day, as we walked home together he asked me about what I would be doing on my break. Having this conversation all of a sudden seemed kind of sad. I knew it was strange, but I really felt a little upset about the prospect of not seeing him for two weeks.

"Oh, I dunno, nothing probably. Just to relax should be great." On paper, it would have sounded like I was happy at having time off of school, but right then I was finding it difficult to muster some enthusiasm.

"So listen, he said, stopping at the side of the road suddenly, "I probably won't see you before Christmas, but ya know, I just thought I'd give you this", he said it like he was shy, nervous even- it was unbelievably cute.

Having stopped also, I now looked at him, to see that he'd grabbed a small package wrapped in crumpled brown paper out of his pocket.

I know I'd gotten him something, but I definitely hadn't expected anything in return, I was a little taken aback.

"I know, it's a crumby excuse for a wrap job" he said, a little embarrassed.

"No, no," I tutted.

I held it in my hand, and slowly opened it, much more eager than it would have appeared.

Once I got it open, I shook it out onto my hand, to reveal a pale blue yarn woven bracelet- the kind they used to sell kits to make, but looking closer, this one seemed much more intricate than that. It appeared a simple icy blue at first, but when I really looked at it, I saw that it was made up of at least 8 different shades.

"It's a bit stupid, I mean, if you don't like it I won't be offended or anything…"he started to say.

"Shut up" I said, "Brady, this is amazing"

"No it's not, it's just something I made, it's nothing really." He shrugged.

"No, don't, it's great, I really love it" And I did, it _was _amazing. Perfect.

Ever since mom had married Pete I hadn't really had to ask for things because I was given them easily. He told mom he'd made money all of his life, and he was just happy he finally had people to spend it on. So material things, which I hadn't really ever dwelled on anyway, meant a lot less to me now. Brady could have spent a million dollars and wouldn't have given me a better gift than the one I got.

This gave me the courage I needed.

"Wow, thank you so much. I got you something too."

"No, you don't have to give me anything, honestly." He replied quickly.

"Okay, seriously, shut up." I said with defiance, getting the envelope with the e-tickets out of my bag, and handing it to him.

He opened it quickly, obviously curious, and when he read it, his perfect dark eyes went wide.

"Okay, Nola, you're taking these back" he said. I was honestly surprised- this was not the reaction I'd been expecting.

"Seriously, it's too much. Oh my god, I made you a fucking _friendship bracelet? _What am I eight? I mean, this is amazing; I didn't even know they were playing- but, no. No. I'm not letting you pay for these."

"Just shut up and say thank you Brady." I said in my sternest voice, giving him a quick smile to show I wasn't mad.

"I already bought them, they're non refundable and that's that. And let me tell you this "fucking bracelet" is the best gift I've ever been given so just go to the damn concert and have some fun"

He was silent for a bit, obviously trying to figure out how to react. Finally he must have decided to just listen to me because he stopped looking like he wanted to argue and said:

"What do you mean?"

"What do you mean, what do I mean?" I said convolutedly.

"What do you mean, "just go to the concert and have fun?" he said, slowly.

"Oh, well, I mean, have fun at the concert, there's two tickets there so take whoever you want and _have fun_" I said.

There was a long period of silence.

I didn't really know what to do. I looked at his face. He was staring down at the ground, and looked kind of _hurt. _He looked younger than I'd ever seen him, and I felt a twang of pain inside to see him like that.

Finally he spoke,

"So you..don't..wanna come with me?" he said softly.

Frankly, I was surprised- so _that's _why he was upset, because he thought I didn't want to go with him.

"Of course I want to go with you, I just didn't want you to think I was pushing you to go with me, I mean, I thought there might be, ya know, someone else you wanted to take…" I said.

Like a child's, his face switched expressions immediately, lighting up and making my heart melt.

"Don't be stupid," He said. "of course we'll go together- you're folks'll be okay with it right?" he said, concern interrupting his obvious happiness.

"Yeah, definitely" I said, reassuringly. "My mom's cool and besides, I'm eighteen, I'm an adult."

"Okay then," he laughed.

"Here, let me help you with that" he gestured to my bracelet, which I still held in my hand.

He grabbed it, and motioned for me to hold out my wrist. As he carefully put it on me, his fingers lightly brushed my wrists, sending a feeling of electricity tingling up my arm. His skin, as I was just realizing felt extremely hot, as though he was his own source of warmth.

I may as well add that to the list of reasons why I wanted to be closer to him, _all the damn time. _

_**Brady**_

That night, when I got home, I was feeling a hell of a lot better than I could ever have expected.

Everyone I knew was incredibly jealous that I, as a teacher, got to have so much vacation time a year. But with my situation with Nola, as the Christmas break approached; all I'd felt was dread.

Two weeks without seeing her. How the hell was I supposed to manage that?

But after that afternoon I felt great.

I'd thought a lot about what to do for her for Christmas. If I'd had the money, and I wasn't worried about how it might come across, I would have given her the most extravagant gift I could think of. But I wasn't exactly in the position to do that, so I had to be creative.

I'd talked to some of the guys about it, and was given the idea for the bracelet from Jared. He said in their early days, he'd made a friendship bracelet type thing for Kim, and she'd loved it.

I decided it was a pretty good idea, so with the next challenge being where to get the supplies, I went to see Emily. I figured if anyone I knew would have that kind of stuff it'd be her.

Thankfully, she had a whole shoe box full of hundreds of colors of yarn, which she used to do this needle point thing. So I was set.

I went home, and for the next four nights, spent forever weaving and re-weaving the thing, just like Jared had shown me.

By the time I was finished I was pretty happy with it. I couldn't believe I'd managed it, honestly. I mean, I wasn't exactly the type to sit quietly and do such a fine, intricate job.

The finished product involved almost every shade of blue I could find in the box, as well as a bunch of white, which made it look, from slightly further away, like it was a crisp, ice blue. It was perfect. The exact color I thought of when I thought of Nola. The exact color of her amazing eyes.

I'd been pretty excited to give it to her, but had worried a little about her thinking it was a little weird.

But walking home that last day, the prospect of two weeks without talking to her looming, I just went for it.

I can't even attempt to explain how her reaction made me feel, without sounding completely sappy. It was just…amazing.

I don't think I'd ever get used to the fact that this girl was even giving me the time of day.

But then, that she had also gotten me something really took me by surprise.

I honestly hadn't even considered it. And the gift she gave me was perfect. I still wanted to try and figure out a way to pay her for it- she had to have spent way too much on me- but it was totally awesome. On the one hand she'd remembered what my favorite band was, and going to their concert would be really cool. But, more importantly, she'd given me a gift which meant I could spend more time with her, like she'd known about my dread of separating, and had given me just what I wanted: an excuse to see her.

At first, when she'd acted like she wasn't planning on coming with me, I honestly couldn't disguise my disappointment.

But it turned out she just thought I'd want to take someone else instead. The thought of me having _preferred _to go with anyone else was just ridiculous to me.

So anyway, I was now pretty much buzzing.

I was gonna be able to spend a whole day with her, driving to Seattle, and going with her to see an awesome concert.

I could barely contain my excitement.

All that was left was to stick it out until January 3rd…


	7. All I want for Christmas is you

**Disclaimer: Everything Twilight is 100% stephenie meyer's.**

**AN: Hey there guys, so here's chapter seven. **

**This chapter doesn't have a lot of Nola/Brady stuff, but it's their respective Christmas experiences. **

**Writing about the Pack christmas was fun, and gave me the opportunity to properly introduce some of my OCs, ie the wolves who phased for the war in Breaking Dawn. **

**Please, please let me know what you think of them- it's when you do that I'm compelled to write more, so, as always, review, review, review!**

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Chapter Seven- All I Want for Christmas is You..**

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_Nola_

By three days into break I felt like I didn't know what to do with myself.

The first day my mom and I slobbed on the couch, spending the whole, snowy day watching chick flicks.

It was fun, but for the last three days I haven't been able to stop wishing I could spend more time with Brady.

I felt like I was going cold turkey. I thought about him so much it was getting embarrassing.

I just didn't know how to remove him from my thoughts. I cared about him I a way which I hadn't really realized before, and, being honest, it kind of freaked me out.

The second two days of vacation, both as snowed in as the first, were spent doing homework.

Most of my teachers had loaded me up, so I figured I'd get it out of the way early. I wasn't really finding anything difficult at the new school, I'd been in mostly advanced classes back in Bethesda, so a lot of the work here was a little repetitive, but I didn't mind, it just meant I had a lot easier time of it than the other students.

But now that I'd gotten that out of the way, I was stuck for things to do to fill up my days.

It was December 20th and Jordan was catching a bus up from Berkeley on the 22nd. I was really excited to see him, it'd been forever since we'd last seen each other, so I was sure Christmas would be fun.

We were spending it at home. Nattie, Pete's mom would be coming over for lunch, as well as his sister Clara, other than that it would be just mom, Pete, Jordan and I, so it should be nice.

It would be weird though, since it was the first Christmas we weren't in Maryland, so would be the first one in as long as I could remember that we hadn't been to see my Lincoln grandparents.

My mom was an only child, and her parents had gotten divorced when she was a teenager. They had both since remarried and lived in opposite ends of the country, my Grandpa in Florida, my Grandma, Maine, so my whole life, I didn't see much of them really.

My dad's parents, though, had always been there.

They lived in Maryland, too, so we'd usually either go over there at some point in the day, or they'd come visit. My mom was closer to my grandma, Bea, than she was with her own mother, but like I said, they'd always been there.

_**Brady**_

I hadn't enjoyed Christmas anywhere near as much before I joined the pack.

I mean, as a kid I'd loved it, of course, because it was the time you got heaps of presents, what kid wouldn't be into that? But since we had a pretty small family, I never knew what it was like to spend Christmas day with a room full of people you loved.

That was why I could never feel badly about becoming a wolf, because from the first moment I phased I gained an entire family.

I mean, I loved my own little family- me and my sister, Hazel fought like crazy as kids, and I didn't see all that much of her now she'd got married and moved to Colorado, but the four of us were still a great little unit.

I planned to go over there for lunch on the day of, then spend Christmas dinner with the pack.

Being away from school, or rather, away from Nola, got harder by the minute. She was literally all I could think about- even when I had other things to do, and concentrate on, at the back of my mind I'd always be subconsciously wondering what she was doing, or thinking about her smile, or her laugh, or the way she smelled…

When Christmas day finally arrived I was excited, in that hopefully the day would offer even a partial distraction from thinking about being away from my imprint.

Lunch with my family went by, pretty much without incident. Hazel was spending Christmas in Vail with her husband, Bobby and his family, so it was just my dad, my mom and I.

At 4:30 I went over to Jared and Kim's, as one of the last to arrive.

We'd generally said that the holiday celebrations were meant to be shared out as to who hosted them, but realistically, for as long as I could remember they'd pretty much been shared out by the four married couples.

Almost the entire pack had made it this year- including Carlos and Nick, two of the wolves who had phased later, and now lived in Seattle. After they moved there for college, Nick had imprinted on Carrie, a young ad exec who was based in the city, and they had both decided to stay permanently, and no longer ran with the pack. Nick had stopped phasing altogether, but I know Carl had a harder time of it, and still did every now and again, having to run away from the city for short periods of time.

Nick and Carrie had been together for almost three years now, and since they came to visit every now and again, it was good to see all three of them again.

I walked in the front door, which opened to Jared and Kim's large living room, to find Lucas dangling an upside-down Buckley from his ankles, in mid air. Buckley, was the three year old son of Mathew, another of the newer wolves.

He had met his imprint, Sarah when he was 18, four years after first phasing. She was a customer who he'd served from behind the counter in his dad's fishing tackle and bait shop. Just a few month's after they'd been together, she'd gotten pregnant with Buckley, and they'd ended up getting married. Just after that, his dad retired, leaving him the bait shop, which he now ran.

A really cool thing about the pack was, that pretty much everyone was such a great addition to the 'family'.

Lucas, who had phased at just twelve, along with his best friend Tai, were, as dubbed by Kim, "La Push's two most eligible bachelors".

And, wasn't that the truth. They were both highly favored by women of all ages, and could pretty much have their pick of them.

They were fun guys, always together, and really cool to have around, because neither one of them was arrogant or really seemed too aware of their affect on the female population.

I swear I actually saw Jaime swoon when she first clapped eyes on Tai.

I walked in, greeting everyone, and making a stop in the Kitchen where Emily, Kim and Sarah were all frantically getting the food sorted. I did the usual, "anything I can do to help?", out of courtesy, but as I knew well by now, huge, wolf-men who couldn't cook only got in the way- so was just ushered out to the backyard, where most of the guys were sitting around having some beers, and staying out of the way. Much more my scene.

When you've got a bunch of six and a half foot guys and a relatively small house, the fact that we don't get cold could really come in handy.

So, despite the snow on the ground and the sub-zero temp outside, Embry, Paul, Collin, Seth, Matthew, Jared, Sam, Tai and I all hung out out there.

A little while later and the big event was to get a call from Jake, who none of us had seen in almost a year.

In February, the Cullen's, his imprint, Nessie's family, had moved from their home in Canada to England, where they'd been ever since.

Jake had decided to go with them, and the plan was that he and Nessie would move back to La Push together when the time came.

Despite being just under 8 years old, Nessie had grown into a woman who looked about early 20s, and would look that way for the rest of…well, forever.

When we he rang, Jared, who'd answered had screamed everyone to shut up and get into the living room, where he put it on speaker, and we practically had our own audio-conference.

For all of us, it was really cool to talk to Jake, and say hi to Nessie. It'd been a while, and being as close-knit as we all were, you missed the absent faces, especially when we were all gathered like this.

After that, us guys went back outside again, leaving the girls to either cook, or drink wine in the house, while Quil, Luke and Ozzy watched over the kids.

With Jared and Kim's two-year old twins, Seb and Blaine, plus Sam and Emily's two, Avis, and baby Lochie, as well as Buckley, the second-generation wolf-pack was growing quickly.

The night went by with the excited buzz of the holiday everywhere.

A peak in the excitement came while Tai was in the middle of telling a story about some girl he'd met in Port Angeles.

He had us all in fits of laughter within minutes.

"Shit man, Embry laughed, only _you_ would pick up a chick like that in a _library"_

All of a sudden, we were interrupted by an earsplitting (especially with our heightened hearing) high-pitched squeal coming from inside the house.

Having tuned out the goings on inside, most of us had the initial reaction of panic- especially Jared, who, recognizing Kim as the culprit of the squeal, tore into the house in a second.

By the time we were all there, though, it was clear nothing to panic about had gone on.

The wolf girls were congregated in the Kitchen, making use of the limited space jumping up and down, shrieking at each other, and all passing Rachel around for hugs.

"Oh, guess she's told them, then" Paul muttered from beside me.

Emily now became aware of his presence.

"Oooh! Congratulations Paul!" She called, coming over and giving him his own hug.

"So what'd we miss?" Sam quizzed.

"I'm pregnant" Rachel said, beaming, her happiness overflowing, now as Paul stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

In the early hours of the morning, after masses of excitement, and even more food, the last few of us made it to our homes- or perhaps some one else's in the case of Tai.

As I collapsed into my bed, I felt exhausted, the day's events wearing me down. I rolled over onto my back, and felt something small and hard dig in. My cell phone, forgotten all day. I opened it, squinting away from the harsh blue light it omitted in my dark room, and read through the few Christmas messages I'd received. There, sent just after my one from Hazel, received at 2:18pm:

Merry Christmas!

Love, Nola.

In a pack like this, a day like today was truly amazing. To spend Christmas with so many people you loved and cared about, it wasn't hard to have a whole lotta fun.

But right then, reading those few words from the person I would have spent every second of forever with, was the very best part of my day.

_**Nola**_

Christmas was actually a lot more fun than I'd anticipated it to be.

I think, in large part that was because I was just so excited to have Jordan home.

I know some people would think it was weird how close I felt to my brother, but we had had a quite unique up bringing, so I guess we'd always been kind of pulled together.

My mom was great the whole time we were growing up. Her parenting policy was, that she couldn't expect us to respect her, if she didn't respect us in turn. So, she never really held anything back from us, and we had a very "three musketeers" type situation for years.

It was really great, and was the main reason Jordan and I had always gotten on so well, I think, because we were basically always friends first, but with that unbreakable loyalty you get from being family, as well.

Just a few days before Christmas, Pete drove my mom and I to the Forks bus station. Pete stopped the car, leaving it on, so we could sit in the warmth, with the heater going full blast, and wait for his bus to come in.

Just a few minutes past 5, the greyhound pulled up, and, as it was only a stop of on the way to the bus's final destination of Seattle, Jordan was the only one to get off. There he was, his stupidly long dark brown hair flopped in his eyes, as he quickly noticed us, and, grabbing his bag, ran over to the car.

It was one hell of a cold day.

Just the few seconds the door had been open to let him in, had sent a bitter blast of freezing air into the range rover.

"Jordan." My mom said, turned around and beaming at him from the passenger seat.

She leaned over and placed an over the top kiss on his cheek.

"Hey mom" he replied, trying to act embarrassed, but obviously happy to see her.

"Nole" he nodded at me, before leaning over and enveloping me in one of his bear hugs.

"Okay," I squeaked, "Can't. Breathe."

He pulled back- laughing.

"Jordan, how are you son?" Pete asked in his "manly" voice, put on hold in the house with mom and me, and especially reserved for moments like this.

"Yeah, great, great, things are really good" Jordan's deep, yet always annoyingly positive voice replied.

And so it continued, through out the course of the drive home, the usual, catch uppy small talk chatter, the whole way home.

I was glowing. It was weird considering time had been going by so fast lately, but it really had been _forever_ since I'd seen my brother, and there was so much I wanted to talk to him about.

Later that night, Jordan having properly settled in, I stretched out on the thick, soft rug in the room my mom had set up, and kept reserved for him, while he sprawled across his bed.

I had wanted to talk to him for a while, and had resolved that he would be the person that I would finally _tell. _

I had fit in well to a small group of good friends, but I had never really been the type to swap secrets and pour my heart out to girl-friends. If there were anyone I'd tell everything to, believe it or not, it would be my brother.

We'd been like that for about an hour, him telling me about what had been going on at college, me filling him in on what it was like here, what I'd been up to since I'd arrived.

But so far, it was pretty obvious that we were both leaving a lot out. And we were leaving the important stuff out.

But he, a lot braver than I was, spilled first.

"So anyway, Nole, I gotta tell you that I met a girl". He said it in a way that I knew he only really talked, with me. Free of all facades, he didn't try to make it sound blasé, for fear of sounding sappy or girly. He didn't have to say it. Just the _way_ he said it made me certain that it was serious.

"Wow." I said. "What's her name, what's she like"

"Her name's Isla, and she's amazing."

He paused.

"No, seriously, I can't even explain her, she's just the most awesome fucking girl I've ever known."

"God, Jordan that really is so cool." And I really meant it. He hadn't had a proper girlfriend since high school, and I could tell from the look in his eyes that this girl made him really happy.

It wasn't like he couldn't get girls, or anything. I knew from my Maryland friends' reactions to him that he was considered very attractive, her was just (in my own biased opinion) a really good guy, and only went into relationships with girls he really cared about. He'd told me once, that he hated seeing girls messed around by guys, so didn't want to chance being the guy who did it.  
I guess that kind of consideration is a benefit of growing up in a house with no one but

two women.

"So, how long have you been together?" I asked.

"Almost two months. I've known her all year though, she sat next to me in my Lit class, and we'd been quite friendly until a couple months ago, when I finally decided to ask her out. Seriously, classes have been the only reason we've ever separated since the first time we went out. It's really great."

It was really cool to see him talking like this.

We chatted some more about her for a while. I found out that her full name was Isla Rutherford, and she was from Brentwood, California. She was, apparently "the most fucking beautiful woman ever", with long, wavy brown hair and hazel-green eyes.

The way he told it, she really did sound cool. I couldn't wait to meet her.

After he felt like he'd talked about her enough, Jordan forced me to take the reigns.

"So, come on then, you've got someone too, right." He said with his impish smirk.

"What makes you say that?" I said, trying to be defensive.

"Oh, come on, it's too easy, he replied, "you've been doing the 'I-know-some-one-like-that' look every time I say anything about how cool Isla is. There's definitely someone you can't get your mind off." He finished, matter of factly.

"Fine." I caved, "but my story is a hell of a lot more complicated than yours okay, so no judging". I said it, but knew he wouldn't judge me anyway.

He put his hands up, as if to mockingly surrender.

"Okay, well, it's really just this huge mess." I began. "He's, well, he's…he's my teacher."

"Your wha-?!!" He began, his eyes wide. I guess I'd caught him off guard.

"Okay back up," I cut across, " before you say anything, he's twenty-one, and I'm eighteen, and it's not. That. Weird. "

He just raised his eyebrows.

"Okay, so maybe it is a little weird, but it's not like we're even in a _relationship _or anything. We just walk to school together. He's a great friend,"

"But you want it to be more." It wasn't a question.

"Oh, god, Jordan. It's so fucking frustrating. I just wish it wasn't so messed up. He's such a great guy, and I just like him so much. He's literally, like _all _I can think about and-"

I stopped talking, because Jordan got up off the bed, flopped onto the ground beside me and wrapped me up in a hug- this one a little gentler than the last.

Aside from having finally identified how screwed up the situation was, it really did feel good to have told someone.

And Jordan, the awesome brother that he was, knew what to do.

Just as I had for him, he asked about Brady. And he kept asking things, kept me talking about him, because he recognized that, despite how shitty the teacher-student thing was, I really, really liked him. And, as he'd known it made me feel a hell of a lot better.

By an hour later, I felt like any stupid thought I'd ever had about me and Brady was out in the open, and anything I liked about him (i.e., everything) I had pretty much shared with Jordan. I also told him about our concert plans and, being that he was now, sort of on the same page as me, and was reassured it was less creepy than it seemed, helped me out about it.

"Well, that should be pretty fun, and, honestly, he really does sound like a good guy. But, I mean, mom might be pretty lenient about a lot, but I still think she might have some hang ups about letting you go to a rock concert in Seattle with your gym teacher."

I made a defeated face.

"Which is why," he continued, "we're gonna tell her you're going with that Kiera person."

Okay, things were definitely looking up. Jordan and I had worked out a pretty foolproof plan, that would allow me to go to the concert with Brady without sending mom and Pete any alarm bells. And our talking had made me feel a lot better about everything.  
I now knew that Jordan understood and supported my feelings for Brady, and I felt even more (if that were possible) excited about the 3rd.

Christmas was a pretty fun and relaxing time.

On the actual day, we all had a really good time joking and laughing and eating way, way more than we should have.

I got some pretty cool presents. Mom, who was my shopping partner extraordinaire, bought me mostly clothes for Christmas- I got a bunch of really cute new stuff, which was also really warm, so would be great for the weather around here.

Pete and Jordan, much to my own surprise had actually _collaborated _on my gift.

Pete had talked to Jordan about what he thought I might like, and they'd gotten me the latest iPod.

The last one I had was pretty tired, and I very rarely used it because it had really limited space, and I was pretty useless with that sort of thing so hadn't really changed any music in god knows how long- and my tastes had definitely improved since then.

But the best part was, Jordan had loaded it up with heaps of awesome stuff- music from him, as well as extra stuff he knew I liked, so it was all ready to go and really cool.

I still, as usual found myself thinking constantly about Brady and what he was doing. I wonder how he was spending today? I know he had a pretty small family, and he always said he had good friends that were more like his family anyway, so I wonder if he was spending it with them? I felt like a total loser for thinking it, but I found myself fantasizing about whether I would ever spend a Christmas with him myself. I gave myself a little shake, and, as and attempt to stop myself from obsessing, I decided to send him a text message. We'd exchanged numbers a while back, but I'd always felt like it'd be too forward to text him outside of school. But I did it.

"Merry Christmas, Love Nola." Simple, but caring, I thought. And since I had nowhere near the amount of courage to give him my love in person, I decided he would interpret it how he wanted to.

It was definitely a great day.

Still, as understandable, freaking cold and snowing, so by the end of everything, when Pete's family had left, the four of us curled up under blankets in the living room and watched movies by the fire. It sounds extremely cheesy I know, but sometimes those cheesy moments are the greatest.

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	8. Pieces of Me

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything remotely Twilight- She pretty much rocks!**

**AN: Hey there!**

**Cool to hear from some people about the chapters so far, the next few are where it will really pick up for Nola and Brady- I can't wait!!**

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Chapter Eight- Pieces of Me**

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_**Brady**_

After a particularly excruciating time of minimal contact with Nola, things were finally looking up, and it was now the day before the concert in Seattle.

I hadn't spoken to her properly in the almost two weeks since we'd been on vacation, our only contact being a few text messages here and there, and one phone call, yesterday, when I'd called her to discuss the plans for tomorrow.

I'd been a little apprehensive about calling her at first. I don't even really know why, because, on another level, I was totally excited to hear her voice. So I bit the big one, and dialed her number.

She'd picked up right away, and we'd talked for a bit about what we'd been up to, before getting everything for tomorrow straightened out.

The plan was that I'd pick her up outside her place at 11am, meaning that we could drive leisurely to Seattle, and would have lots of time to make any stops we wanted along the way, without being late for the concert.

Talking to her on the phone, something I'd never done before was, like everything with Nola, really great.

Every time I talked to her usually, I tried to meet her eye as much as possible, so I was always getting distracted with how beautiful she was.

Then, all I had to focus on, was her musical voice, and her incredible laugh- I didn't want to put the phone down.

See what I mean? I can't _not_ sound sappy when I talk about her- it's a problem.

So now, I was eagerly anticipating tomorrow like it was Christmas morning. Which is fitting, because, like I said, this event was what I was really looking forward to about this vacation, despite it being _Christmas break. _

We'd planned to drive back after the concert. I didn't want to put her in a weird position if we stayed overnight there, so although it was a little impractical, and we would be driving until like, one or two am, I was feeling ecstatic about the fact that I would get to spend over twelve hours with her.

In the last errand I had to run before tomorrow, I left the apartment, and jumping into my beat up looking blue Ford, and drove around to the guys' autoshop.

As I pulled up outside, Embry shirtless and covered in black grease, walked out to meet me.

"Oh, so you're actually giving the girl some love today, huh?" he called.

Thinking he was talking about Nola, who was never out of my thoughts, I quickly began to get defensive, before his face told me he was talking about my car.

"oh, yeah, I guess I am, rare occasion, I know." I replied.

My car wasn't exactly part of my everyday routine. My dad had given it to me a few years ago when he got a new one. It'd been handy when I used to drive to Port Angeles for college, but now, everywhere I went was on the reservation, and with wolf speed and endurance, I didn't exactly need wheels to get around.

"So what's wrong with her?" Embry inquired, yanking up the hood, and beginning to examine it like it was a thing of beauty.

"Uh, nothing that I know of, it's just, ya know, I haven't driven it in a while, and wanna make sure it's gonna be okay to make it to Seattle and back tomorrow.

"Oh, yeah, the big concert trip, huh" he asked with a knowing smirk.

Most of the guys were aware of my excitement for the road trip with Nola, and Embry was no exception. So for the next fifteen minutes he examined the car doing a quick oil change, before concluding that, "she would be fine."

"Cool, cool" I said, "Thanks man, I just, ya know didn't wanna take any chances"

"Yeah, sure thing, you guys and your imprints, over-protective- central, I get it" he laughed, "Just count yourself lucky she's not still a kid, where do you think Quil is now? Ran up to Makah rez to take Claire to the _dentist, _honestly, it's just a routine check up, you'd think she was going sky-diving or something" he chuckled.

"But anyway, have fun tomorrow, dude. You still doing that "just friends" shit, or what?"

"Yup, strictly friends, and it's pissing me off a fuckload more than it's pissing you off let me tell you" I said, my frustration clear.

"Well, you know it's all on you if you want to give up on it, man" he said, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, don't I know it- that's what makes it so fucking hard" I said, "But, whatever, day by day and all that"

"Okay then," he laughed, shaking his head, "I'll see you later"

"Yeah, Later, Embry- and thanks" I called before jumping back into the car and heading off back home.

_**Nola**_

It was the morning of the concert day, and I was freaking out.

I don't know why I was suddenly so nervous, and I'd been nothing but excited about this whole thing since Christmas break started, but now I felt like a total idiot. I was running around like I'd lost the ability to have a sensible thought, and I was going to be picked up in less than an hour.

I'd explained to my mom that I would be going to the concert with my friends from school, and that Kiera would be picking me up this morning.

In an unbelievably lucky coincidence, mom and Pete had gone out. Since we'd been in La Push my mom, who had quite a fun, outgoing personality, had managed to make quite a few friends, and they'd been invited to spend the day over at one of their couple friends places in Forks.  
I was extremely thankful for this, because I'd told Brady my mom would be okay with it, so didn't want to have to ask him to pick me up from down the street or anything, but, knowing my mom, if she'd been home she would have definitely come out to meet "Kiera" before we left. So this way had worked out perfectly. With the house to myself, I was saved from the worry of being found out, and Brady could pick me up from right outside.

Annoyingly, because it was winter, and freaking cold all the time I didn't have much freedom for outfit choice. But, I was thankful for my mom's sense as well as sense of style, in giving me some pretty cool and pretty weather appropriate clothes for Christmas.

I was now running around my room in my Purple towel, not having changed since my shower forty-five minutes ago.

Sprawled out across my white bedspread, I had several of the items of clothing I'd deemed as 'possibles' but just couldn't seem to decide.

Glancing at the time, my decision was made for me.

"Fuck". I said to the room.

10:23

I really needed to get dressed so that I could sort out everything else I had to do before we left.

I resolved on wearing my skin tight black seven jeans I'd gotten for Christmas. They hugged my legs like a skin the entire way down to my ankles, so looked great on, and had a little metallic in them, so I figured they'd be cool for the concert.

I through a baby blue bra onto my 32C's and added a white tank top for warmth under my crew neck, long sleeved black and white horizontal striped top.

I'd decided to wear my new shoes sent to me by my Grandparents for Christmas. They were shiny red leather box toe Christian Louboutins. They were expensive, and unbelievably cool looking, so they were a really pleasant surprise. I could just imagine my grandma going in to the boutique, and asking some sales girl what she thought I'd like.

They were high, and impractical, but I stood, dressed in front of my full length mirror, and was satisfied. Besides, Brady was ridiculously tall, so a little extra height couldn't do me any harm.

I did my make up carefully. I didn't usually bother with it but today I felt like I wanted to.

I skipped any kind of foundation, and just focused on my eyes. I put on black mascara, eyeliner, and a little of this charcoal smoky eye shadow I had. When I was finished, I was satisfied that my eyes stood out freakishly enough, and went and got my handbag.

I had to make sure I had everything I'd need. I put in some pink lip stuff, my cell phone, wallet, ipod, and grabbed a dark grey cashmere scarf off the stop of my dresser, stuffing it into my purse.

By now it was five minutes to 11, so I just pulled on the dark green Burberry coat, another Christmas present, and went to wait outside.

Despite being early, he was already there.

I locked up the house and ran out to his car. Just before I reached it he'd gotten out to greet me, and opened the door for me to get in. Honestly, I felt like an idiot for thinking anything about today wouldn't be wonderful- how could it not be when he was this perfect?

_**Brady**_

I timed it so that I arrived at Nola's a little early. I didn't want to have her waiting outside for me in this freezing weather, so I just parked outside her house and waited for her.

She came out of her house just before 11 o'clock.

Oh. My. God.

I don't know if it was just because it'd been so long since I'd seen her, but that was definitely a contributing factor.

I had gotten out of the car to open the door for her, but I was absolutely floored at the sight of her.

She looked amazing- I don't know what it was, but everything about her just screamed at me.

Her legs, which had never been a part of her body I'd singled out before, looked fucking incredible- so long, and the jeans she was wearing- fuck, I felt like a creep for thinking it, but her ass looked so good. It was things like this that made me want just grab her.

But, we were _friends. _And I would just have to control myself.

I shook myself out of it in time to greet her, but then noticed that she'd put a bit of make up on her eyes today. She didn't usually go for that-, which I admired, god knows she was more than beautiful enough without it, but that black shit made her light eyes, my favorite things, stand out to no end.

Would I ever get over how gorgeous she was? It didn't seem likely.

We spent the first part of the car ride mostly talking about our vacations, and then just talking about whatever- conversation was never difficult between us. She told me all about her Christmas,

"And then the four of us just spent the night watching movies, it was just pretty, casual really, but we had fun"

"So, like, you really like Pete then?" I asked, curious. I hadn't talked to her much about her family before, other than little things. I knew that her and her mom and brother were close. I knew that she considered Jordan to be her best friend, and I knew Pete was her Quileute step-father who was quite new on the scene, but that was about it. She'd never actually spoken about her father before.

"Um, yeah, he's really cool, and he makes my mom really happy, so ya, know I'm cool with it." She said simply. She was really sweet, she had this selflessness about her- especially when it came to the ones she loved.

"So," I'd plucked up the courage to ask, "what's the story with, you know, your father?"

She frowned.

"That's okay," I quickly withdrew, "you don't have to talk about it."

"No, " she said, "I don't mind, I will."

"Seriously, Nola I don't-"

"It's okay Brady, honestly" She gave me a reassuring little smile, and went on.

"Um, well the truth is that I never met him." She said it regretfully, like she wished for nothing more than for that not to be true.

"When my mom was pregnant with me, he, he died."

I didn't know what to say, for some reason I had always sort of assumed he and her mom were just divorced.

"Nola, I'm- I started.

"Honestly Brady, don't worry about it, I mean, I never met him so I don't have anything to miss, right?" She said it like she was trying to be positive, but I could tell her talking about this was a rare occurrence, and her voice caught on the last word.

I saw a rest stop up ahead, so sped up and pulled the car over into it, cutting the engine, and turning towards her in my seat.

"Nola, don't say that. You have every right to feel what you feel, and this is your dad you're talking about, you don't have to know him to miss the presence of him".

She was looking down, as if she felt ashamed or something; it broke my heart to see her like that.

"Brady, you're being really sweet, but honestly, I'm okay, I got used to it a long time ago."

"No, you don't have to be. You don't have to be okay, you just don't."

I couldn't exactly empathize with the situation, but the connection with the imprint was something I couldn't really explain, it was as if I could sort of get a feeling that she was upset, almost like the imprint _allowed _me to empathize with her.

We just sat there for a few moments while she tried to come to terms with talking about it.

"I'm sorry," she said, finally, "It's just that, we don't really talk about it all that much. My mom doesn't like close off the subject or anything, but, you know, he was her great love, and eighteen years later I know she still misses him like crazy."

I just tried to give a reassuring nod, and she continued.

"She was only a few months pregnant, and Jordan was really little. My dad just went to work one day, and had a heart attack while he was there. He was 30. Seriously, 30. Who dies of a heart attack at 30?"

I could see she was getting herself worked up. I didn't know what else to do, so I just did what seemed like the most natural solution. I leaned across, and I wrapped my arms around her. I just held her like that, for god knows how long. But, being there, breathing into her beautiful soft, blonde hair, and inhaling her amazing fruity scent, was the best feeling I'd ever had.

_**Nola. **_

I don't really know what came over me to break down like that, but even more bizarre, was that I felt so good afterwards. I felt like I'd held it all in for so long, without ever realizing that I even wanted to talk about it.

And afterwards, just sitting there, with Brady holding me like that, I felt so calmed, so reassured and so _safe. _He made me feel so much better than I ever thought I could.

After a while he pulled away slightly. By now I'd well and truly calmed down, so I looked up at him and smiled.

He took me by surprise when his hot fingers touched my face, brushing away the tears from my cheeks, before he gently shifted back into his seat.

After that Brady and I really did feel closer than ever.

He told me a lot about he and his friends, lightening the mood telling me a funny stories about the sort of stuff they'd gotten up to. It was really nice, and I felt like this was the closest I'd ever been to a person who wasn't my mom or my brother.

I'd had a couple of boyfriends before, but I'd never shared myself with them the way I did with Brady, and it wasn't even like he _was _my boyfriend.

It was weird, and I'd never thought letting something out that had been locked away for so long could end up having such a positive outcome.

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	9. The Same Deep Water As You

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer created all that is Twilight.**

**AN: Okay, so I'm having heaps of fun writing this story, and am getting completely wrapped up in its world. **

**I find myself rushing home from school to write some more everyday. :) **

**I hope you like this chapter.**

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Chapter Nine- The Same Deep Water As You**

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_**Brady**_

The rest of the drive to Seattle went quite smoothly, and I could tell it was obvious to both of us that whatever had happened had brought us closer.

We were now about 10 minutes away from our destination, having just killed an hour having an early dinner at some family type restaurant.

When we finally pulled up outside the club where the concert was being held, something didn't seem right. There weren't very many people around, and, despite the fact that it was now bucketing down with rain, there were two official type guys standing on either side of the entrance, each holding big umbrellas and talking to the few people who were making to enter the bar.

"Hey, do you wanna grab me that e-ticket thing, outta the glove compartment." I ushered,

Nola grabbed it out, handing it over.

"It is meant to be here, right?" she said, obviously having the same concerns as I was.

The paper definitely said we were in the right place, it just did not seem like there was any kind of event here tonight.

I pulled the car into a loading zone just outside.

"I'm gonna go and see what's up, you stay here, kay?" I said.

"Sure," she said with a smile.

I ran quickly through the rain, over to the nearest of the umbrella guys.

"Hey, I'm here for the concert, is that on here tonight?" I asked.

The guy shook his head knowingly, as though he knew exactly what I was going to say.

"The ticket company sent emails to everyone who booked- I guess you didn't hear.

The band couldn't leave London until this morning- they were supposed to arrive here last night, but their flight was delayed because of weather- no concert tonight, sorry. If you go to band's tour website you can find the link to claim a refund for your ticket."

He said the last part robotically, as though it was memorized, and most likely was considering he'd probably said it a hundred times tonight.

It was weird; I liked the band and everything, but didn't feel all that disappointed. I guess the concert just really wasn't what had me excited about this trip.

I didn't want to tell Nola the news though; she'd been so excited about it. I got back into the car, and told her what the guy had said.

"Oh." She said, frowning.

"Oh my god, I'm such an idiot- I just should have checked my email, Brady, I'm so sorry."

"Hey, don't worry about it- it's okay, honestly. We just need to make sure you get your money refunded, that's all that matters. But anyway, I'm thinking we should at least do _something_ how 'bout we go see a movie or something?" I said, trying to assure her that I really wasn't all that disappointed without her taking it the wrong way.

"Are you sure, I mean, we couldn't go to the concert…"

"Nola, I mean, the concert would have been awesome, it was such a great gift, but, honestly, I can confidently say, that no matter how cool the concert was, it would not have been the highlight of my trip."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, that, well, maybe I wasn't so excited about going to the concert. Maybe…..I was excited…about spending time with you."

An adorable warm pink blush spread across her cheeks and she gave an involuntary smile.

"um, okay." She said, "so a movie then?"

"Sounds great." I replied.

_**Nola**_

When I found out the concert had been cancelled, truthfully I wasn't all that disappointed. I knew Brady had been looking forward to it though, so I felt like a total idiot, and incredibly annoyed that he had to be let down.

But what he said to me made me feel amazing.

Even if he didn't feel about me how I felt about him, it was still incredible to hear that he'd been excited about the trip for, you know, the company, rather than the destination. So I guess we were on the same page in that department at least.

Brady quickly found a large movie theatre, where we parked, and went inside to see what was playing.

There didn't appear to be a lot of option, and neither of us really seemed to care what we watched, so Brady ended up picking one- I think because he thought it would be the one I liked- that was starting in 10 minutes.

It was a romantic comedy, and a movie which, normally, had I been able to concentrate more on the plot I probably would have enjoyed.

But watching it like that, sitting, in the dark next to Brady was almost unbearable. Especially because we were sitting in front of a massive screen which was showing a great deal of sappy material, as well as some heavy make out scenes- almost as graphic as some of those being played out around us.

It appeared that being a Saturday night in movie theatre, meant that it was couple-central.

I could tell that Brady was finding it just as awkward as I was, as we both sat there, tensly, trying to keep our eyes on the screen, while not even really taking in what was going on in the story.

After about an hour of it, I didn't think I could bare it much longer.

I couldn't sit next to Brady, that close, feeling his warmth, without having to fight insanely hard to resist moving closer, all the time.

Suddenly, he stretched in his seat, and leaned his head close to my ear.

"You wanna go?" he whispered.

Perfect timing. Just when I thought I couldn't stand it any longer-

I just nodded, and got up out of my seat, following him out of the theater and into the deserted foyer outside.

It was pretty chilly, despite being still technically undercover, so I gave an involuntary shiver.

"Here," he said, stepping close to me and starting to do up the buttons on my coat, "don't get cold"

"Sorry, he started to say, working my buttons the whole way up, "I just sensed neither of us was particularly enjoying that,"

He was talking, justifying having left half way through the movie, but I couldn't pay attention to what he was saying.

We were standing unbelievably close, and his large, warm hands were just finishing the last button at the top of my chest.

He'd stopped talking by then, and put his hands on either sides of my arms, rubbing up and down a few times. Even underneath all my layers of fabric I could feel the heat of his hands, making me feel instantly warmer.

"Better?" He said with a smile.

I didn't say anything- I didn't think I could, standing there like that, his hands holding my arms; we were standing so close our coats were just touching.

I just smiled up at him, but as our eyes met, our smiles seemed to fade from our faces, and we were just standing there.

We were like that, just standing and looking into each others eyes for a long time. It was as if we could each sense all that had gone unsaid between us for so long.

I didn't know what to do, my breathing was getting embarrassingly heavy, and my heart was racing. I didn't feel like I could process a single intelligible thought.

He started to step forward, closer.

I blushed, and tried to put my head down, but, silently, Brady removed his hands from their hold on my arms and softly cradled my face in them, tilting it upwards again. The feel of his bare palms on my cheeks was indescribable. They were so hot, my skin reacted to his touch as though it was electric, and I didn't want it ever to end- this closeness, this contact. It was more than we'd ever had, and getting so close to what I'd been yearning for, for as long as I'd known him.

Oh god, I thought, as he leaned down, filling the distance between our heights, this was it.

As he brought his face down to mine I closed my eyes, feeling his warm breath on my face.

Suddenly, he seemed to take hold of himself again, and, without moving from his position just inches from me, he sighed heavily.

He leaned his forehead against mine,

"We can't." It was barely a whisper, but it held so much frustration, it was as if he was telling himself more than telling me.

_**Brady**_

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

This was getting way too hard to control.

I couldn't bare it.

I can't believe how close I got back there. I know that by anyone's standards it would have been wrong, and everything I'd been working at for like three months told me it was absolutely no go. But it had felt so damn right. And even now, knowing I'd stopped it in time didn't give me a scrap of satisfaction.

All I wanted was to hold her.  
I wanted to grab her and show her how much I loved and wanted her. How much I wanted her to be mine forever.

I didn't really know how to handle the situation. I was too goddamn mad at myself to think straight.

"Uh, well, come on then," I said as I pulled away, grabbing her had and leading her off towards where we'd parked.

I didn't tlak to her at all until we were back inside the car, I'd felt like a total jackass, she must have been so confused, but I just couldn't figure out what the hell to say.

We got in the car and I didn't start it. I just sat.

I tried to clear my head, and think of how to put what I wanted to say. So we sat there in silence for a while.

"Okay," I said quietly, turning in my seat to face her where she sat in the passenger side.

She gave an almost inaudible sigh of relief at hearing me finally talk, and I felt instantly guilty.

Damnit, I was fucking her around, and it wasn't fair.

"Um, Nola I'm just gonna come out and say it. I'm shit with words, I'm shit with how you're supposed to say anything- but let's face it, what I gotta say couldn't possibly be what you're _supposed _to say, so I just need to get it out."

"Okay", she said, nodding her head to prompt me to continue.

"I think that, well, you've gotta know that I want to be with you, right?"

"I think by now it's pretty clear, and everything back there, well, I know I'm screwing with your head and it's not fair to you. I'm not being fair to you. But before anything else I think you're one of my best friends, Nola, and I don't want to lose you. So even though we both know that nothing can happen, please, can we try to go on as we have been?"

I felt like I was waiting for a million dollar answer, I life or death verdict. Let's face it, she had every right to tell me to fuck off for playing with her emotions like I was, but the last thing I wanted was to put us back to square one. Our friendship was all I could get, I know, but it was the best thing in my life, and the thought of having ruined it made me sick.

"Brady", she said, leaning in a little closer, "please, don't beat yourself up about this. This sucks, really. It's such a shitty situation. I mean why did I have to meet you as your godamn student? It seems like somebody's cruel joke to me." As she said it, I could see her beautiful blue eyes starting to tear up.

"But, I mean, I have to tell you that talking to you is the best part of my day. I really don't want that to stop just because of some little almost-whatever. If friends is all we can be, then friends is what we should be."

It was such a feeling of warm relief to hear her say those words.

I leaned over and enveloped her, just as I had done earlier today.

I breathed in the perfection of her sent, and that was that.

That was all. All that needed to be said.

We both knew, to some extent, anyway, how we felt about each other. We also both knew that there was nothing that could be done about it.

It couldn't be helped.

In the future, who knows what will happen, but for now we were just going to keep on going. And that was all that needed to be said.

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	10. Come Away With Me

**Hey guys, hope you like this chapter, from here things are really going to start to pick up, so I hope you like it.**

**Please let me know what you think.**

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Chapter Ten- Come Away With Me**

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_**Nola**_

It had been almost three months since the trip to Seattle.

For a while things had been a little weird.

I think we were both just trying too hard to make everything so, not-weird, that they ended up being just that, if you get what I mean.

That night we'd driven back relatively peacefully.

After all that had been said back in the parking lot at the movie theatre, neither of us had much left to say. For the first hour or so of the trip back we sat in silence.

It was a comfortable silence, though. It wasn't awkward, not strained. We both just seemed to be comfortable in our own thoughts.

We'd spent the remaining part of the trip just having small conversations every now and then about nothing in particular. And then, before I knew it, we were pulling up outside my house and he was hugging me goodbye.

That night as I lay in bed, I'd felt quite optimistic about everything. It seemed that, despite the shittyness of the situation, we'd both decided to be mature about it. And, most importantly, we were still going to be friends.

Just a few days later school started up again.

Everything continued as normal, but, like I said, for a couple weeks everything did feel a little awkward. Maybe it was that we felt like we had gotten so close, that it was weird to be back in front of the world at school again. I didn't know, but I just kept on going with the usual routine, and, after a while, things seemed to sort themselves out.

Don't get me wrong, my feelings towards him haven't changed. And now that he knew how I felt I'd had to be even less conspicuous with my ogling.

But still, every now and again, one of us would catch the other out.

Or our eyes would meet, and just linger there for a little longer than normal, each of us knowing that, at that moment we were both feeling the same thing.

It was hard. Really, hard.

Way harder than before, because now, I didn't just think it was some ridiculous school girl crush. I'd always been convinced that it was embarrassing and one sided, but now that I knew he felt that way too, it was harder than ever to be 'just friends'.

But, as always it was better than nothing. I could go to school knowing that I'd see him everyday, and that was enough.

I seriously could hardly believe the point in the year we'd gotten to. It was almost April already, which meant I was getting scarily close to graduating.

For over a year now, I'd been thinking and talking about the whole college thing. At first, I was all for it, it just seemed like the natural course of action. But after a while I'd sort of realized that I really didn't feel ready. I didn't have any real immediate desire to go, and it wasn't that I wasn't a studious person. I mean, I did pretty well at school. But really, I didn't really know for sure what I was interested in. I felt like I wanted to experience stuff for real. I wanted to really see the world, to _live_ for a bit before I made my life decisions. I thought this logic was a little immature and stupid, but when I finally go the courage to talk to mom and Pete about it, they'd been surprisingly cool.

Mom had never gone to college herself, and despite things going well for her, she'd always been really strong willed about me and Jordan getting a proper education.

But, as she'd said, she knew me well, and knew that I would go to college _eventually_ I just didn't want to go right away.

Pete, himself had taken a year off before he'd gone, and he'd wound up a lawyer, so it wasn't as though I was taking the loser's route, I just wanted a bit of time.

So it had been decided that I would wait for one year. I would have an off year, where I could, live, work, move around, do whatever, before deciding on a major and going back to the books.

It was, to me the first plan that I'd been happy about. I was a pro-active person, so I trusted myself not to get caught up in a rut.

At some point, I planned to go and spend a few months in a foreign country, either Europe or South America, and learn the culture and language. That was something I'd always wanted to do, and both mom and Pete had been really encouraging about doing that type of thing while I was young.

For the last few months time just really seemed to have gotten ahead of me. I guess I'd just gone about everything in such a methodical way, just taking everything one day at a time, that I'd actually surprised myself with how many of those days had passed.

Kiera took me by surprise one afternoon, saying, "So have you thought about what you're going to be doing for Spring break?"

I had hardly realized it was even coming up, but then I clicked, if today was March 25, then Spring break was only like a week away.

"Oh, um, not really, you?"

"Going away with the family, unfortunately," she said with a sigh, "A bunch of people are heading down to California, which I'd love to join in on, but my mom won't let me out of our little trip. So I'll be road tripping with my parents and little brother to my Aunt's place in Michigan."

"yeah, I guess I'll just hang out, ya know, enjoy a bit of freedom for a few days," I said.

That night, in a weird coincidence, I got a call from Jordan.

We'd usually talk on the phone every now and then, so hearing from him wasn't exactly anything new, but his reason for calling was.

"So listen, we were thinking that you should definitely come down here during your spring break" He said almost immediately after I answered the phone.

"We won't actually be on vacation, our spring break was last week, but we could still hang out when we don't have classes, and I could show you around campus and everything, and, ya know, you could meet Isla." He said, with obvious enthusiasm.

I was immediately eager to go. But I didn't see how he thought I could, considering I didn't have a car, and wasn't really a confident driver anyhow.

"Jordan, that sounds awesome, but, I mean, how would I get there, and what would I do by myself while you guys are in class or whatever?" I asked skeptically.

"Thought of it." He said, cockily, obviously having pretty much planned this conversation before calling me up, "You're not getting out of it that easily, slick. Isn't it obvious? Don't come alone." He said, as though having just solved the crisis of world famine.

"What do you mean, I mean who should I bring?"

"You sure are a quick one, Nole. You'll bring the teacher of course."

For about a split second I thought it was a ridiculous idea. But then I thought about it. I mean, we did go to seattle together, and we were really good friends, I'm sure he'd be keen to go with me. Maybe Jordan had a point.

After I'd been silent for a while he went on.

"I know, you don't have to say it, I'm brilliant. I mean I've given you some more time with your…whatever. _And _there's the added bonus of you getting to see me. It's a perfect plan."

"Um, but I mean what about mom? I really don't want to lie to her again."

He was quiet for a while, as he thought it over.

"Well, he said, "why don't you tell her about him, even tell her his age if you want, I don't think she'll really have a problem with that part, I mean you'll be nineteen in August anyways. But maybe leave out the fact that he's your teacher, _and_ that you're into him. Just say, he's a friend, and he's got a car, and he's taking you to see your darling brother"

He finished with a flourish.

He really did have a point, and the plan seemed pretty good.

After we said goodbye I thought about it a lot more.

I didn't really see why it wouldn't work out. It'd be a lot of fun, I mean, I guess we could just stay in motel or whatever, which might be a little bit weird, but then, it didn't have to be, I guess.

If we just carried on like we had been, there'd be no reason for it to be awkward or weird. Afterall, we were friends.

So walking to school the next day, I decided to ask him.

We were about five minutes away, and I resolved to just come out with it.

"Um, so Brady, I was talking to my brother on the phone last night, and he invited me to go visit him at Berkely over spring break"

"Oh, cool, that'll be fun" He replied, smiling.

"Yeah, but, so listen, I don't have car, and it wouldn't be much fun to go alone anyway so…well…I was wondering, would you maybe want to come with me?"

I studied his face while I asked the question. I'd been terrified he'd say no, I don't really know why, I just had this ominous feeling like maybe he'd reject it.

But it was impossible to miss the obvious excitement on his face, at me asking.

"Yeah, yeah, definitely, I mean, you really want me to go?"

"Absolutely, it'll be fun"

"Cool, yeah, thanks, it'll be awesome" He said happily, nodding his head.

I felt extremely elated, and now that it was in the works, incredibly excited. It would be awesome to see Jordan, and I really did want to meet Isla, as well as the fact that going with Brady meant that I could not wait.

_**Brady**_

I could hardly believe it, this time tomorrow I would be in Berkeley, with Nola. I wasn't even trying to contain my excitement, something which had earned me much ridicule from the guys in the past few hours.

I had everything I needed (which wasn't much, considering my wardrobe consisted of a few pairs of shorts and several interchangeable t-shirts) packed and ready to go.

I'd had the car checked over at Embry and Quil's place again yesterday, just to be on the safe side. Embry shook his head at me, well used to over-protective imprinted guys by now, whereas Quil could most definitely empathize.

I could hardly believe this was all even going ahead. We were planning on leaving from her place at seven am, nice and early to get on the road.

I'd booked us two singles at a Best Western in Berkeley that wasn't too far from campus. It wouldn't exactly be flash, but it'd do.

Five whole days with Nola. This was better than I ever could have hoped for.

I could hardly believe it had been like, over six months since I'd met her. Back then, I would have never thought that we could have been this good of friends, without being, something _more._ Especially not six months in.

But somehow I'd managed it, and I was determined to keep out friendship strong.

The other day I'd gone round to her place to meet her mom.

Her step dad wasn't home, but her mom seemed really cool about everything.

Nola warned me before the visit that she had sort of deliberately left out the detail about me being her teacher, she'd just said that we'd met through some mutual friends or something. I think her mom, who'd insisted I call her Paula, had found it hard to believe we were really just friends. But if she had her doubts, she didn't voice them, and she was still letting Nola and me go away together, which in my book was very cool of her.

The next morning I woke up around six, and showered quickly before throwing on my clothes for the day- some cut off jean shorts and a blue t-shirt, before I went to grab a quick breakfast in the kitchen.

I got everything ready and loaded into the car before heading off to pick up Nola.

I pulled up outside her house right on time, and practically skipped up the cobbled path to her front door.

I was well aware it was early in the morning, so debated for a second whether or not I should knock, just in case her parents were sleeping. I didn't have to dispute long though, because right then, Nola opened the front door, ready to step out.

"Oh," she laughed, surprised to find herself inches away from my face.

"Hey" I said, smiling down at her. God, she was cute, I thought, as she blushed and stepped back.

"Ready to go?" I asked, enthusiastically.

"Absolutely."

We got into the car and got straight on the road. We had a long trip to make, and probably wouldn't arrive until tonight, anyway.

She sat next to me, in the passenger seat, looking like utter perfection in a simple plain white t-shirt and tight jeans. Always with the figure hugging clothes! Was she trying to do me in?

"It's so cool you're gonna meet Jordan," she said perkily, "I think you guys'll get on great. It's kind of weird to think that you're like, the same age as he is, but he's still in college and everything- but I mean, you started earlier right? Because you got your GED?"

"Very good." I joked. "So you really do listen to what I say, here I thought you just hung around me for my obvious good looks."

She laughed her amazing musical laugh. "Oh, no, you should know by now, I just hang around for the free car rides, if anything- but I figured, I better lay some ground work first, ya know."

We carried on chatting and joking away for the first couple hours of the journey, which went by quickly, taking me by surprise when I realized it was past ten am.

At that point we were driving through some small township, and I noticed a sign for a gas station up ahead.

"Okay, snacks stop," I said cheerfully, pulling in.

We both got out of the car and raided the place, stocking up on chips, chocolate, and a bunch of other candy for the rest of the trip.

I grabbed us a couple of cokes, and paid for it all, before we returned to the car.

We snacked and joked for the next couple of hours, listening to some good music and having a cool time.

Next to me in the seat she busted open a big bag of milk duds, one of my favorites.

"Could you ever do that thing where you.." she said, as she threw a milk dud into the air, attempting to catch it in her mouth.

She'd thrown it directly above her face and tilted her head upwards to catch it, only to have it fall down, hitting her straight in the face. She laughed, her face adorably scrunched up as it hit her.

"Okay, okay, bow down to the master." I said, feigning cockiness, "Prepare to be schooled"

"Okay then, _master" _she laughed, sarcastically.

"Seriously, I don't think you've come to terms with what a fine art this is, let me show you how it's done. Hit me." I said.

Giggling, she threw a milk dud into the air, as I took my eyes off the road to face her, watching the dud soar through the air, and opening my mouth to catch it at the perfect moment.

I gave her a smug grin afterwards.

She laughed, "I'm very impressed."

Later, we stopped in Portland, Oregon, and grabbed some fast food to eat for lunch on the road.

The drive was long enough, so we didn't want to have to make many long stops. People would think I was crazy for making the drive in a day, but when you patrolled all night, you learned to stay alert, no matter how tired you were. Besides, with my wolf senses, I seriously doubted I'd ever get in an accident, which meant I could drive just a little faster than usual, as well.

By six that night we were a couple of hours away from our destination. We'd made good time, and had been in the car all day, so I didn't blame Nola for being exhausted. She was now sleeping peacefully beside me.

With her asleep, I was having a hard time keeping my eyes on the road at all.

She looked so god damn beautiful. Her face completely relaxed, her full, pale pink lips curled upwards slightly. She looked so comfortable, so content and happy.

As I drove on, trying to remind myself the reasons why we couldn't be together, I was taken by surprise at the sound of my name.

At first, I thought she had woken up, but the way she said it should have told me that she wasn't.

As I turned my head to face her, confused, she did it again.

"…_Brady.." _she sighed, in a quiet voice, higher and slightly different to her usual one. I then realized that she was talking in her sleep.

She looked so happy.

An indescribable feeling of warmth spread through me, I felt illuminated at the sound.

She was dreaming about me.

She was dreaming about me, and, from the look on her face, _it was a good dream._


	11. Just Like Heaven

**AN: Hey guys, hope you enjoy this chapter, please tell me what you think. :D**

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Chapter Eleven- Just Like Heaven**

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_**Nola**_

I must have fallen asleep sometime around six, and then, when I woke up, we were just coming in to Berkeley.

Brady was so sweet for letting me sleep, but I felt bad he had to drive in silence with no one to talk to for all that time.

We'd arranged that we'd just go to our motel first of all, and get settled, and then Jordan and Isla were gonna come meet us there.

I was so excited to see Jordan again, but even more excited to have Brady with me for the next five days.

We arrived at the simple motel. It was funny, so generic and 'typical' of a motel, everything you'd expect, from bad floral bed spreads to matching curtains. But it was perfectly fine for us for the weekend, I hardly needed the Ritz to get a decent nights sleep.

Brady had gotten us two adjoining single rooms, and we each went into our own to put our stuff away.  
Once I'd done that I went into the bathroom, to examine the damage of thirteen and a half hours in the car.

I knew I felt like crap after that journey- my body was completely shattered- and I now found that I pretty much looked it too.

I splashed some water on my face, waking myself up a bit, and decided to go ahead and brush my teeth as well.

I then scooped my hair up, and using the elastic I already had on my wrist, I tied it back in its long ponytail.

It was a little chillier now that it was nighttime, so I quickly grabbed a sweater out of my bag and put it on.

I was too tired to make any more of an effort- I figured I looked presentable enough to meet my brother and his girlfriend anyways.

I went back out into my room and banged on our adjoining wall-

"You ready for me to give Jordan a call?" I asked.

"Yup", he called back quickly. "You decent? I'll come in there" he said.

"Uh huh" I called back whilst rummaging through my overflowing bag to locate my cell phone.

He opened the door which went between our rooms and came in wearing a different colored t-shirt to before, but other than that, he looked just as he always did- no shoes, cut off shorts- perfection.

I smiled up at him, acknowledging his presence while my hand finally grasped my little silver flip phone.

I dialed Jordan's number, and let him know we were here, to which he said they'd see us in about a quarter of an hour. I guess we'd all go out and grab some dinner together.

After snacking all afternoon in the car, despite it being pretty late, I wasn't that hungry, but judging by the size of some meals I'd seen Brady eat before, by the time they arrived at my room, I could tell Brady was eager to get some food.

As always, it was awesome to see my brother again.

When I heard the knock at the door, I jumped up, quickly opening the door before I was instantly enveloped in a hug from Jordan.

"Hey, how are ya?" He said warmly, as he put me down.

"Great", I replied, "how about you?"

"Yeah, yeah, good- hey Nole, I better do the introductions- this is Isla" he said as he stepped sideways, presenting a tiny, and yes, very obviously gorgeous, girl.

"Hi," She said, beaming.

"Wow, Jordan's just told me so much about you- I feel like we already know each other," she laughed, as she stepped forward, giving me a small hug.

She was petite, and at least a couple of inches shorter than my 5'7, with chestnut brown hair out, and French braided in the front.

Jordan was not being biased when he mentioned her beauty, she had these perfectly defined cheekbones, and flawless cream skin.

"Hey," I said happily, "yeah, I could definitely say the same for you."

I led them inside the room, where a similar introduction (minus the hugging) was carried out between Jordan and Brady.

Jordan was remarkably cool about the whole 'brady's my teacher' thing.

You'd think he didn't even know.

The two of them were the same age, and seemed to slip easily into conversation, leaving Isla and I to talk amongst ourselves.

"So Jordan's hair is finally, shorter." I remarked.

"I know, right? I _finally_ convinced him to cut it, and now you can actually see his eyes" She said, laughing, "wow, speaking of which, the two of you have like identical pale blue eyes," she noticed.

"Yeah, strong genes I guess- mom's are the same, but Jordan looks mostly like our dad." I said.

"Yeah, Jordan was telling me." She nodded, knowingly, "I think it's so great that you two are so close, after everything that you had to go through- It's like I said to Jordan, you don't have to remember a person to miss their presence." She said with a sympathetic smile.

I could definitely see Jordan's gravitation to this girl. She was so open, so sweet. I liked her almost immediately.

I nodded in agreement, "He's a great big brother, and I can tell he's crazy about you" I said, making her blush slightly.

"You know, I have two sisters, and we have nothing near the closeness you two have- I think it's so sweet."

Our conversation was soon interrupted by the boys, who walked over the couch we were sitting on.

"Okay, it's _way _too late for us to not have eaten yet. Feeding time." Jordan announced.

We grabbed coats and walked down the street to a little family restaurant. This may have been California, but it was not _warm_ California.

Despite it being the middle of spring, the night air was extremely chilly, so we walked briskly into the restaurant, grateful for it's warmth once we got inside.

Dinner was nice.

There was no awkward period of strained conversation, it moved by naturally, and was a lot of fun.

I genuinely really liked Isla, and could tell her and Jordan were in love. They were just so inexplicably wrapped up in each other. Everything between them seemed one hundred percent natural, and comfortable. As though they'd known each other forever.

Brady and Jordan seemed to get on really well, which made me feel so incredibly happy.

It wasn't even like we were together, but I really cared about him, so of course, it meant a lot to me that Jordan liked him too.

By the time we got back to our rooms it was almost midnight, and we were both absolutely spent, so we said goodnight and went into our respective rooms.

As I lay in bed, I suddenly didn't feel as tired as I had just before.

Lying there, I don't know for sure what it was, but I just could not seem to fall asleep.

I couldn't get the thought out of my head, that Brady was lying in bed just through the wall.

I think it was knowing that we had adjoining rooms, that there was literally nothing to stop me from getting up and walking straight into the room where he was in bed.

I felt restless.

Like I had to force myself to stay, restrained by my own sense of, well, _sense. _

_**Brady**_

The night had gone by really, really well.

Because I knew how close they were, I had felt a little nervous about meeting her brother, I'll admit.

But he was a cool guy, and we were the same age, so it wasn't like it felt weird or anything.

In fact, I was surprised at how un-weird the night had been.

Everything had ran very smoothly, and, the best part, had been seeing Nola like this.

She hadn't seen her brother since Christmas, and I knew she would be happy to see him, but seeing was a different thing altogether.

When she was glowing. From the start of the trip, she'd been even more happy, and buzzing than usual.

To me she would always be able to light up the room. She was this genuinely happy person, and it had only been on very rare occasions that I'd seen her looking remotely upset.

I now lay in bed, unsure of what to do with myself.

I had been absolutely exhausted after dinner, having patrolled last night, and gotten up early this morning, before driving all day, but now I could not seem to fall asleep.

The bed was up against the adjoining wall, as was the one in her room.

Thanks to my wolf senses, through the thin wall I could hear her breathing. I could hear the sound of her heartbeats. I could smell her enticing sent.

Everything was alerting me of her presence. Telling me that she was just a few feet away.

That there was nothing stopping me from going in there.  
I felt like a total creep, but I just could not get the image out of my head. I could not drop the tension that came from knowing that I could just go to her, right now.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't shake the fantasies of her from my mind.

I couldn't stop them from playing out involuntarily.

She was just so godamn beautiful.

Just thinking about her was starting to get me all hot and bothered. I felt like I really needed to go to the bathroom to...take matters into my…own hands, so to speak. But I felt like a total sleaze. Especially with her in the other room.

The other room. Just through that wall.

This was going to be a long night.

_**Nola**_

After finally falling asleep last night at god knows what hour, I woke up the next mornig around nine.

Today was a day that Brady and I would be spending with ourselves, until Jordan and Isla's lectures finished, anyway, which meant we were free until around three.

I got out of bed and quickly threw on a bra and my white t-shirt from the day before.

The rooms we had were obviously meant to be for a family type situation, because they were adjoining, and shared a bathroom.

So, I'd have to go through Brady's room to take a shower, so wanted to make sure I was at least semi-presentable to do so.

It was almost nine, so I assumed he'd be awake, and knocked on the door.

"Can I come in- to shower?" I called softly.

"Yup, sure." He called.

I opened the door, a completely startled at what I found.

Brady was sitting on the end of his bed, flipping through the channels on the tv. He was shirtless, wearing only his some cut off sweat pants.

His back was to me, and he didn't turn around right away, so I was left, shell shocked, to admire the muscular planes of his back.

I knew it wasn't supposed to be a big deal, guys went shirtless all the time, but, well, not Brady. With Brady it was _definitely _a big deal.

I never though I could find him any more attractive than I already did, but now I stand corrected.

He then stood up and turned to face me,

"Morning," he said, flashing a smile, and giving me a frontal view of his unbelievable shirtlessness.

His dark skin along with the deeply cut muscles in his ches and stomach and arms, and…

The sight of him made my stomach clench.

I felt weak, and embarrassingly full of desire, so, saying a quick good morning, I forced myself to avert my eyes, and walked briskly to the bathroom.

Closing the door to the tiny room behind me, I let out a sigh.

That, I had not been prepared for.

It was definitely a good thing I was going to have a shower- maybe I should make it a slightly cold one.

I walked over to the shabby looking shower- bathtub combo unit, and tried to figure it out.

It had one of those shower heads you could pull off of it's mount, and was connected by a long tube, so I pulled it down and turned on the tap.

Holding the shower head in my hand, I was going to try to get it up to temperature before hopping in, but, after turning it on, I heard a weird sound, and then, nothing.

NO water came out, so I brought the head up closer to me, to see if I could see anything. The whole bathroom was completely dated and somewhat grotty looking, so it didn't surprise me that nothing worked.

Suddenly, just in time for me to be holding it up to my face, the water came on, freezing cold and at maximum pressure. A painful stream of it gushed at my face.

I squealed loudly, and the shock of the water made me drop the shower head.

The pressure of the water going through the tube was so strong, it had the shower head snaking and curling around the small room as though I was alive.

I continued to squeal as it saturated me from every angle while I tried to grab it.

Amongst it all, I became aware of a booming knock on the door.

"Nola, are you okay?" Came Brady's worried voice.

"I, uh, um" I called absently, as I tried to grab the nozzle and avoid the constant streams of icy water.

"Okay, I'm coming in," he said, as though questioning.

"Kay" I called, jumping around.

He burst in, and, relieved, immediately started laughing, as he too, began to get covered in the water spraying from the mutant shower head.

With his better reflexes, he caught it almost immediately.

By this time, we had both began to laugh hysterically.

"Okay, so you didn't get enough water, huh?" he asked, cheekily, before directing the stream at me, soaking me even more.

"Aaah!!" I screamed between spurts of laughter, and jumped at him, trying to wrestle the shower head off of him.

By the time the water finally cut off, I was holding it, his arms around me trying to yank it out of my hands, us both standing there absolutely covered in water.

_**Brady**_

I'd woken up that morning earlier than I'd wanted to, especially considering I'd gotten a pathetic amount of sleep.  
But, I couldn't see myself getting anymore, so I got up and chucked on a pair of cut off sweats.

I was hot, the room was small and stuffy, and it seemed like, despite the weather yesterday, today was going to be warm. Besides, when you run at about one-hundred and eight degrees, it's not hard to start to feel hot.

SO I sat on the bed, on top of the covers and killed time, watching whatever crap I could find on the shitty motel TV.

A little while later, Nola knocked and came in, having to walk though to access the closet sized bathroom.

She strolled it, her scent filling the small room, and captivating me as always.

I heard her stop, and turned around, to find her looking a little deer-in-headlights.

It was only then that I realized that how I was dressed probably wasn't exactly cochure. It was hard when I spent so much time like this, to realize when it's a big deal and when it's not.

Even in the morning, she looked incredible.

Her hair was spilling out of its elastic, and she looked decidedly tousled, in an extremely adorable way.  
She was wearing only a tight little white t-shirt and some pale blue cotton pyjama shorts, which were very short, showing off her toned tanned legs.

I could smell her amazing scent. It was so sweet and fruity, like some kind of candy that hadn't even been invented.

For a few seconds, she stared at me, biting her bottom lip, and I could smell her scent intensify. It threw me a little, _was she….turned on?_

She blushed suddenly, giving herself a little shake and walking briskly into the bathroom, after a quick reply to my previous greeting.

I didn't know definitely, but I was pretty sure of what had just happened, and although it felt creepy, I felt ecstatic.

She was so fucking gorgeous, and if that meant she was attracted to me too, well,- it was just unfathomable.

I had to take a few deep breaths to stop myself from getting worked up. I tried to concentrate on the tv, staring at it without taking it in.

I carried on like that, until a few moments later, when I heard her screams.

She kept squealing and screaming, I didn't know what had happened, but I immediately assumed the worst, rushing over to the door and banging on it.

When she didn't answer I called out to her, but not getting a proper reply, I quicky tried to get the all-clear to go in, and barged in the door.

I don't know what I had expected to find, but this wasn't it.

She was squealing, and hopping around, while the stupid retractable shower thing swirled and sprayed all over the room.

It was like she was diving at it, and jumping away from it at the same time. It was too funny.

It was like a scene from some dumb movie. She was saturated, and completely adorable, as she too, started to laugh, while I grabbed for the thing, spraying her some more.

She was jumping at me, grabbing for the thing.

The floor was covered in water, and I slipped a little, dropping the shower head.

She grabbed it, and sprayed me full force in the face.

"Yeah, how do you like it?" she screamed, in fits of laughter.

I grabbed her arm, wrapping mine around her from behind and grabbed the still alive shower head from her hands, right before the thing cut off. The water just stopped, proving, once again, what a quality motel this was.

I dropped it to the floor and she turned around, looking up at me, as our laughter died away.

It was suddenly quiet.

We were both out of breath and I could feel the fast rise and fall of her chest against my arm.

I was looking into her eyes, as our smiles faded away.

In that moment, I wasn't thinking about anything accept her. Her gorgeous pale blond hair, soaked and clinging to her neck and back. Her tanned body, soaked in a layer of freezing water, her now see-through white t-shirt, pasted on to the curves her waist and breast. Her pink lips, moist and parted, as she breathed in and out, her face, so alive and free, and her eyes. Those eyes which looked up at me now, so piercing, so beautiful.

I turned her around in my arms, not letting her free of the cage they provided.

She was now facing me, wrapped in my arms, her cold, drenched body held against my warm one.

Slowly, I trailed an arm up her back, my hand finding her neck, and then her cheek.

She closed her eyes at my hand on her face, before slowly opening them again to look into mine.

I gravitated closer, leaning in.

And I was kissing her.

I didn't think I didn't weigh options, I didn't back out.

I just leaned in, and did what felt like the most natural thing I'd ever done.

I touched her incredible full, soft lips with mine.

It was short, and soft and sweet.  
I breathed in her intoxicating smell, as I moved my face closer still, tracing the side of her face with mine.

I suddenly felt the sensation of her cool hands on the back of my neck, as she brought her face up, nuzzling it in the crook of my neck, and breathing in to me.

I closed my eyes, inhaling the smell of her hair.

Perfection.

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**Now go review!!**


	12. Heartbeats

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all.**

**AN: Hey guys, I'm sorry it's been a little longer between updates, but it may continue like this for a while, as school's been quite busy lately, so I can only really write on weekends and every now and again. But I'll try to update at least once a week- keep those reviews coming, it's great to hear what you think of everything.**

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Chapter Twelve- Heartbeats**

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_**Nola**_

We stood there like that for a while.

Standing in the tiny, water drenched bathroom, my body leaning against his, my head on his chest.

After months of trying to convince ourselves that "friends" was enough, finally something had happened. And I felt as though I'd never felt true comfort until now.

I'd hardly had enough sleep, my clothes and hair were sticking to my body like glue, and I was soaked, from head to toe, in freezing cold water, but standing there, leaning against Brady, my face against his warm chest, feeling the rise and fall of his breathing, hearing the steady beating of his heart: I'd never felt better.

I don't know how long later, he broke away slightly, only to lean down and put his face next to mine.

I felt his breath tickle my ear as he whispered softly,

"I'm done. I'm done caring."

And with that he grabbed my face in his hot hands, and kissed me.

This one more passionate than the first, I was sort of taken by surprise.

His lips were so warm, and so perfect, I wanted to do this forever.

Without breaking contact with my lips, he started to move his hands. They were warm and strong, and felt incredible on my cold body.

He rubbed his hands up and down my back, and along the curve of my waist.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss, and hearing him groan softly into my mouth. Suddenly his hands were at the base of my butt, grabbing my thighs and hoisting me up, before putting me down atop the small bathroom vanity.

He put a fiery hand on my face and began leaving quick hot kisses in a trail from behind my ear, right across my jaw line.

I let out a loud sigh- this, I could definitely get used to.

And then his lips were on mine again. I took his lower lip between my two, sucking lightly, before I felt his hot tongue slip out, parting my lips and entering my mouth.

His taste was incredible, like nothing I could describe.  
On some other level, I could still not believe I was doing this. I could not fathom that this was actually happening, but regardless, I was going to enjoy it.

I was completely caught up in the feeling, the sensation. All I could think was _finally. _

I let my hands trace the hard, smooth planes of his deeply cut chest, tracing them down to feel the perfect indents of his abs, and feeling him shudder.

He broke apart suddenly, opening his eyes and staring at me with a look of adoration, that made me blush.

"You have no idea how long I've waited for you." He said, beaming at me, before he scooped me up once again, and carried me out of bathroom.

_**Brady**_

With my arms around her back, I straightened up, lifting her up to my height, as she hooked her legs around my waist.

I was conscious of the fact that I was extremely hard, just from the passion of kissing her, after all this time.

Holding her in this way, there was no way she didn't know, but she didn't seem to mind.

I carried her out to my room where I placed her, gently down on my bed, as she bounced a little she giggled, adorably, looking up at me with a look of the kind of happiness I myself was feeling.

"I'm going to get your bed wet" She laughed,

I shook my head- who fucking cared about anything when they had this beautiful creature gazing up at them.

I lay on the bed beside her, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her close.

I closed my eyes and breathed her in. God that smell.

I wanted her. It was almost too hard to bear, but what outweighed that was my happiness at just having finally _done _something about it.

Opening my eyes, I kissed her chastely, and said what drove me crazy to say,

"I think we should slow down a little."

She nodded, smiling. "How are you so perfect?" She said, filling me with more happiness than I could have fathomed.

"I've got nothing on you." I said.

I pulled her in, and she, burying her face in the crook of my neck, closed her eyes.

We just lay there like that.

For I don't know how long. We just breathed each other, listening and feeling the other breathe. Listening to the sounds of our heartbeats. And it was enough. It was perfect.

A while later we started to talk. Just lying there in each others arms, we talked about everything we'd never talked about, basically. Everything that may have been too weird, or too hard, or too much.

I told her about how I'd wanted to be with her ever since I first saw her. I still didn't know how I was going to go about eventually letting her in on my entire freaky-supernatural world, but for now, this would do.

"Nola, I stayed away from you back then, because, I thought it was all I could do. I didn't know that "just friends" was really an option, because I didn't think I could stop myself from making it more." I stroked her flawless cheek with my hand, feeling her smooth, delicate skin under my fingertips. "You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, to me there is nobody else." I said it simply, and surely.

I watched as a cute pink blush appeared on the tops of her cheeks. She squeezed her eyes shut, opening them to look up at me. I saw that she had tears there, and leaned in, touching my lips to hers.

"I tried to tell myself it was a stupid school girl crush," she said as we pulled apart. "But I just could not get past you. Even from that first day, I don't have a clue what it was, but, well, I'm drawn to you. So, what happens now?"

"Honestly," I replied, "I don't know. You'll be graduating in a few months, and then we won't have to worry, but for now…"

"I don't think I can go back to the way it was, Brady." She almost whispered it.

"Oh, neither can I" I said, "I was going to suggest that we just don't get caught." I offered with a cheeky smile. It wasn't perfect, but it was all I could see as an option right now.

She smiled and we lay there for I don't know how long, talking and laughing.

My warm body meant her clothes were just barely damp now, so we stayed like that for a long time.

"Brady," she said, almost shyly, after a long period of comfortable silence, "um, how…how many girlfriends have you had?"

I was a little taken by surprise, though I knew it would come up eventually, and wasn't uncomfortable saying it.

I'd hardly ever had a relationship that lasted longer than a few weeks, maybe a month. Most of us guys who weren't imprinted were the same. It wasn't like we were _waiting_ to imprint, but knowing it was a possibility definitely made you a little apprehensive about jumping into anything quickly.

"Um, just, a few." I said, smiling impishly. "Honestly, I've never really had a "serious" relationship, I had like a couple girlfriends when I was a teenager, and then was with one girl for probably, just over a month last year- nothing serious- and that was as long as I've ever dated anyone." I said honestly.

She nodded, taking it in.

"What about you?" I asked.

"Um" she said, thinking "well, I had a few boyfriends in Maryland- one who I dated for maybe like six months, but ya know, it was only a stupid teenage thing." She said, as though brushing it off.

"It's okay, you know, I don't mind, I mean, the past is in the past, right?" I said, though, admittedly, the thought of her with anyone else made me crazy- I knew it was irrational, but it was an instinctual thing.

I could sense there was more she wanted to know.

"Um..." She said shyly. "But you're, I mean, you've… I mean, you're not a…"

She sort of trailed off, but I think I could see where she was going with it.

"um, I'm not, a virgin..no." I said. I felt weird about it. I mean, I'd slept with five girls before. Three who I was in relationships with, and two sort of- one night stand type situations. I wasn't a player or anything. But ya know- well, it was before I met Nola, and that's all that matters.

"But, Nola, you have to know, that I haven't even come close since I met you. There's been…we'll there's been no one else." I said sincerely.

She nodded, sadly.

"Can I tell you something?" She said, suddenly looking quite upset, and almost _afraid._ I hated seeing her like this. I stroked her cheek lightly,

"Of course," I prompted.

"Well, um…the truth is that I wish I was." She said cryptically.

"You wish you were what?" I asked.

"I wish…I wish so bad that I never did it. I wish I could be a virgin again." I was taken by surprise- I don't know why I had assumed that she was a virgin, but I had. It was weird, because, growing up, I didn't really know anyone who hadn't done it by the time they were eighteen.

I looked into her eyes- she seemed so afraid all of a sudden, as though she was terrified I would judge her, or dislike her in anyway.

"Brady," she breathed "I wish so bad, that well, that you could be the one…"

"Hey," I said, grabbing her chin, "like I said, the past is the past- let's leave it there, okay- all that matters is that we're together now."

A tear rolled down her cheek as she launched forward suddenly, kissing me passionately.

When we finally broke apart she said, "Sorry- it's just, ya know, the perfection thing again."

And we laughed, holding each other.

Yup, perfection, that about summed it up.

_**Nola**_

I could hardly believe that just a few hours ago I had been on a trip to Berkeley with "my friend, Brady."

Now, well, I'm still on a trip to Berkeley, but I'm with…well, I don't exactly know what we are, but I know it's a hell of a lot better than "friends".

We spent close to 3 hours this morning, just lying on his bed, talking. Seriously, it_ was _talking.

Maybe we did have a few completely innocent kissing spells in between conversations, but mostly we did just talk.

I knew the conversation would come up at some point, so I'd decide to bring it up anyway, but didn't realize _I'd _be the reason I felt shitty about it. I really had kind of imagined Brady to tell me he'd had this long line of gorgeous girl friends, or had been a bit of a player at least. I mean, it's kind of just what you expect from someone who looks like he does. But I don't know why it surprised me, really. Brady was one of the good guys. Everything about him made me happy, and I couldn't get over it.

But that fact only added to how shitty I felt, myself.

Technically, I probably didn't have cause, but I just couldn't believe I'd gotten to a point where I could care _this_ deeply about a person. In Junior year, I'd been dating my boyfriend, Scott, (who I was eventually with for around half a year) for about four months, and, well I really thought I loved him. Close enough, at least.

I thought he was really the perfect "first serious boyfriend" type, which looking back, he might have been, but we really did not have a very serious relationship. It was quite literally a clichéd high school romance, and I didn't have a bad experience or anything, it's just that now that I felt this way about Brady, everything I'd had with Scott paled in comparison.

Scott was the only person I'd ever slept with, and even then it only happened like, three times. But I couldn't get over the feeling like everything about Brady just made me wish that he was my first. It was supposed to be special, and right now I felt like next to him, no one would ever be special enough.

But, true to my expectations of him, Brady had been super sweet and understanding about the whole thing, so, I was determined to try and drop it. I really didn't want to dwell on it anymore, because, like he'd said, it was in the past, and I couldn't change it no matter how much I wanted to.

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**Review time!!**


	13. How good it can be

**Disclaimer: Everything here is Stephenie Meyer's**

**AN: Hey! I really hope you guys like this chapter, I'm so excited they're finally getting together, I hope you are too.**

**It's been really cool to hear some more vocal reviews lately. I love to get people who tell me specific stuff they like about the story or are looking forward to later, and I really do love getting suggestions about where you see the story going, so please, don't be shy with the reviews! :)**

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Chapter Thirteen- How good it can be**

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_**Brady**_

It little while later, as we lay there, silently holding each other, I felt her breathing become steady and realized she'd fallen asleep. From the moment I'd imprinted I'd thought constantly about all the reasons we _couldn't_ be together, and I'd never spent a lot of time entertaining the prospect that we could be.

So to have her here with me like this was incredible.

I just lay there and listened to her sleep, allowing myself, finally, to think about all the things I'd shut out all this time.

I let myself imagine mornings like this, the two of us just lying together peacefully. I imagined Nola coming with me to pack parties, fitting in with all the other wolf girls. I imagined me following her around the world, us seeing everything together. I let myself think about our lives and wedding days and houses and babies. God I wanted it. I wanted it all, and now, finally, it seemed possible.

Around lunchtime my stomach started to protest, which, I think actually woke her up. She stirred awake, smiling up at me and wriggling closer into my body.

"Lunch?" I asked.

She nodded, groggily as she slowly sat up. I followed suit,

"So, maybe we should get dressed and uh, go grab something?" I said,

She climbed off the bed, adjusting herself in her still damp clothes-

"Yup, sounds good. I think I might have an actual shower first, and then we'll go?" She said, laughing.

"You think you can manage that shower head yet, or do you need some help?" I teased.

"I think I'll manage." She replied with a grin.

She started to turn to walk into the bathroom-

"hang on," I said urgently, jumping up and grabbing her by the wrist.

She looked up at me curiously, before I pulled her in close, taking her by surprise with my mouth on hers.

She quickly moved into the kiss, reciprocating with passion. This, I was sure, would never get old.

She put her hands on the back of my neck, deepening the contact, as I felt her push her amazing tongue past my lips. It was unbelievable how even kissing now felt new, different and….well, fucking incredible.

After several more seconds of it I slowly pulled away, giving her a quick kiss on the tip of her nose, making her giggle.

"Um," she said quietly, still wrapped in my arms, "not that I'm complaining, but if we keep doing that, we may never eat again"

I laughed, letting her go, "We definitely can't have that"

Ten minutes later she emerged from the bathroom, a small white towel wrapped around her long, tanned body, which now gleamed, still damp from the shower. The water turned her hair a slightly darker shade, highlighting it's golden tinge as the sun streaked through the rooms small window, and caught it as it fell on her shoulders and down her back. I had to hold myself back from grabbing her right there- just the knowledge that she was wearing nothing but that one piece of material was driving me crazy.

She smirked at my silent ogling, and then quickly walked through the room to hers to get changed.

This allowed me time to take a quick shower myself, before throwing on some dark blue shorts and a t-shirt.

I knocked on the door to her room, which was met by a call of "come in", from Nola.

I walked into the room.

She was dressed, wearing a blue and white summery dress, which was tight up the top, showing the perfect curves of her breasts and tiny waist, and then sort of fell loose at her hips, stopping above her knees. God help me, she was fucking sexy.

"So where do you think you wanna go eat?" She asked, looking at me with a bright smile, as she scooped her semi-dry hair up, tying it in a messy knot-thing at the back of her head.

"I dunno," I replied, a little mesmerized as I watched her, "we should probably just go for a little drive until we find somewhere"

"kay", she replied, smiling. She pulled on a dark blue cardigan, and threw on some shoes.

"Ready," she announced.

"you look beautiful." I said, as I walked over to her, giving her what was meant to be a quick kiss, but left us both sighing deeply as we broke apart, leaving the room and walking out to my car.

After driving around for a while we found a pretty average looking diner, and went inside.

The way things had worked out seemed pretty perfect, because, though we both knew it'd have to be short lived, since we couldn't exactly parade our relationship back home, for the next three days we could be about as open as we wanted to.

I didn't let go of her hand as we walked into the place, which was only about half full of people, and then held it in mine as we sat down opposite each other at a little table at the far end.

It was a pretty nice day, especially for northern California, and although the wind was a little cold the sun shone brightly, streaking golden light through the diner's huge windows.

We ordered our food, and as soon as it arrived I was in. It had been a while since I'd eaten, and with an appetite like mine, that was a big deal.

She giggled at me as I finished off a huge burger, a large bowl of fries and a super size chocolate shake in about five minutes.

"Wow, I feel like I starved you or something." She said, laughing, "you sure you're done?" she teased.

"I'm good." I laughed- "big appetite, I guess."

She just smiled cutely, while she slowly ate her sandwich. We just talked about nothing for a while, conversation flowing comfortably, as it always had.

"So, do you think you wanna tell Jordan today?, about you know, us being…"

"Um, yeah." She said, smiling, "I don't really see why not, and plus, I don't want to have to pretend anything, not while we're here at least"

I just nodded, it was weird, but I seriously felt like my feelings for her just got stronger with every little thing she said.

I squeezed her hand, bringing it up to my lips and kissing it lightly.

"You ready to go?" I asked.

_**Nola**_

After we had lunch and got back to our motel, we had like an hour before we were supposed to meet Jordan again.

When we got into my room, it was a little…weird.

Between us, it was like there was this constant tension, that made me just want to be touching him in some way all the time. And now, when we were alone together it just seemed to scream out at me. He sat down on my bed, grabbing the remote and starting to flip through the channels.

"you wanna watch TV?" he asked, barely looking at me. He sat rigidly on the bed, as though he was trying to hold himself there.

I felt the familiar pull, the feeling that made my body just gravitate towards him; the feeling I'd been trying to fight since we'd met. But I didn't have to fight it any more.

I don't really know where I suddenly got the confidence from, but I just sort of gave in to it. I gave in to the magnetic pull.

I walked slowly from my position at the door, over to where he was sitting,

"I don't want to watch TV." I breathed. I was standing right in front of him now, the fronts of my thighs touching his knees. I could hear his breathing hitch.

He looked up at me with his deep, dark brown eyes. The desire in his face seemed to mirror my own. I took deep breaths, my chest rising and falling dramatically, as I stood there.

Suddenly, his large hot hands were on the small of my back, motioning me forward and pulling me into his lap. I was straddling him, his arms around me, as I laced my fingers through his hair.

And then we were kissing, with more passion than I had ever experienced. Our mouths assaulted each other. His body was so warm and perfect, and the feeling of his large warm hands as they firmly rubbed up and down my back was incredible.

We continued the kiss, as his hands went on in their warm trail, continuing down over the curves of my butt and thighs.

I gripped the back of his head as we finally broke away, getting some air before he began to leave a trail of hot open mouthed kisses across my neck. And then his mouth found mine again, as he took my bottom lip between his, sucking on it, before I felt his delicious tongue enter my mouth, causing me to groan.

I moved my hands down, tracing the back of his neck and shoulders, and then his huge strong arms. God I loved his body. The muscles of his arms were like a preview for how incredible his torso was, even through his cotton t-shirt, I could feel the heat rising from his skin as I ran my palms over the planes of his cut pecks and abs.

By now I could feel his incredible hardness, and I too, was overcome with desire. As we broke for air once more his eyes seemed even darker than usual.

"God, you're sexy," he gasped, not leaving me enough time to begin to blush before he grabbed the back of my head in one of his hands, meeting my lips with his own. I threw my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss, as I began to roll my hips, creating an unbelievable friction from my position in his lap.

He let out a sort of growl, as he suddenly moved, grabbing me, and flipping me over so I fell softly onto the bed, lying on my back. He stopped for a moment, hovering over me and looking into my eyes with the same look he gave me this morning; a kind of adoration. It only made my desire for him intensify as I grabbed his t-shirt, pulling him down over me.

He supported his weight on his arms, but the _feeling_ of his body and its constant buzz of heat above me like that was…well, pretty damn amazing. I could barely string a thought together in that moment, all I knew was that this felt great; perfect. And I did not want it to end. He started to leave kisses on my neck, starting from behind my ear he trailed them down, down my neck, down as far as was exposed of my chest; each one tingling like electricity as his hot lips left the spot. From this position my hands had better access to his chest, and this time starting from his stomach, just above the waistband of his straining shorts I snaked my hands under his t-shirt, enjoying the feeling of his hot bare skin. He seemed to get the idea, sitting back up for a second, kneeling above me as he stretched his arms up and peeled off the light grey t-shirt. This was a view it was unlikely I'd ever get used to; the amazing sight of Brady's body, his dark russet skin and incredible physique. I bit my lip and let out an involuntary half moan, half sigh. He chuckled, coming back down and kissing me sweetly, before my right hand on the back of his neck pulled him closer, deepening the kiss. He supported his weight on his left arm while his right began to trace my body , going several times up and down my midsection before finally settling on my left breast. He seemed hesitant at first, as though checking whether it was okay, but when he got no less passion from me, he continued on, taking it in his hand and stroking and kneading it amazingly. It was as though I never knew it was possible to feel this happy. From my position under him I placed my palms on either side of his face, pulling it up slightly so that our mouths broke free of each other. I rested his forehead on mine, closing my eyes.

"_Brady"_ I breathed, as I inhaled his scent. It was my favorite smell in the world, like apples, but not that fake apple smell, that smell like when you make an apple pie or something, god, could I ever get tired of this? I doubted it.

He just smiled at me as I opened my eyes, and he leaned in placing his lips to mine with an unexpected softness.

"RING" "RING"

The calmness of the moment was interrupted by the shrill sound of the annoying motel phone.

We both sighed as he rolled off of me, breathing deeply and walking over to pick up.

"Hey" he said, both of us knowing who it was already- we'd given the number to no one except Jordan, so it wasn't exactly a mystery.

I just lay there, getting my breathing back to normal, listening to Brady have a short, friendly conversation with my brother.

"They finished early, will be here in 10" he said, defeated. I sat up, climbing reluctantly off the bed. I grabbed Brady's t-shirt off the floor, handing it to him.

"It was fun while it lasted," I said with a smile.

They arrived, as promised 10 minutes later, and we all got in Jordan's car to go over to the campus, where they showed us around. It was cool to see Jordan's world down here, to meet some of his friends and see what his life was like.

Brady and I kept it very platonic up until this point- because I didn't want to exactly just blurt it out, but it was kind of a tricky matter to get him on his own to talk.

I finally just ended up going for the obvious. Once we got back to the dorms after we'd hung out around campus for a couple of hours I just said:

"Jordan, I have to talk to, come for a walk." Blunt but effective. Leaving Brady and Isla playing x-box in Jordan's room, we walked outside, strolling around the buildings.  
"What's up, slick?" he said, stopping us under an unoccupied tree.

I decided to just come out with it- there was really no reason why he'd be upset or anything, so I didn't even know why I suddenly felt nervous,

"Um, well, I'm just gonna come out and say it- Brady and I-"

"Not exactly "friends" anymore, right?" he cut across.

"what- I, uh, how did you-"

"Come on, Nole, I know you, and I also think I can kinda tell the difference between the way friends look at each other and the way people lovingly _gaze_ at each other. Besides, we knew it was only a matter of time, didn't we? He said it all very matter of factly.

"But, I mean, you're okay with this?" I questioned.

"Well, I have to be. Even if you didn't mean as much to me as you do, I'd still be able to tell how freaking happy you are. Nola, you're practically buzzing. And I'm not going to fuck that up. Yeah, the teacher thing is a little weird, but he's a cool guy, and, well let's be serious, he was never really just your teacher in the first place."

"Wow." I said, "I don't know why, I just didn't expect you to be so cool about it"

"I just want you to be happy, Nola." He said sincerely. Then he pulled me into a bear hug.

"okay-breathing-breathing" I choked out as he squeezed me tight.

"Thanks, Jordan, you've been really sweet." I said. "And seriously, if you ever let Isla get away then you're a total no-hoper. She's awesome." I said, as we made to walk back to the dorms.

"Yeah, I've noticed." He joked.

_**Brady**_

Nola and Jordan returned only about five minutes after they left. Of course I knew what this'd be about, and I was really hoping it went well. I knew how much Jordan meant to Nola, so I knew if he felt bad about it or something, it'd hurt her.

As they walked back in I was just finishing off an intense game of Need For Speed, and she'd ended up kicking my butt.

"Damn it!!, I live in a freaking all guy apartment- downtime pretty much spells Xbox! How the hell did you do that?" I laughed.

"Oh yeah, she's awesome." Jordan said as they entered the room.

"It's a gift," she said, shrugging her shoulders. The rest of us laughed, Jordan and Isla were a really cool couple, who were definitely easy to hang out with.

At that point Nola came over and sat down next to me. She was smiling pretty wide- which I took as a sign things had gone well.

"So anyway, what do you guys wanna do?" Jordan asked, "It's after 5, which means dinner's up in the dining halls- we could eat here- give you guys a 'college experience'?" he laughed.

"Sure." Nola said perkily- "beats _paying_ for food."

So we wound having dinner there- which I found surprisingly good- but then, I probably would eat anything. Half way through dinner Nola stood up to go the bathroom- Jordan gave Isla, who was sitting next to him, a meaningful look, and she said, "I'll come with", getting up to leave, meaning I was alone at the table with Jordan.

"Okay," he said- subtlety's not exactly my strong point" he laughed, "but I really did just wanna talk to you for a sec"

"Shoot" I said.

"Look man, I'm not trying to come across all 'godfather' or anything- and hell, let's face it, I'm not really in a position to threaten you," he said, acknowledging my size with his eyes, "but, you just gotta know- don't hurt her." He said, suddenly serious.

I started to nod.

"I mean really, don't. You can't. I see how crazy she is about you, and well, she's not the type to go into things half hearted, so trust me, it won't take a lot to hurt her. But I do think you're a good guy, don't get me wrong, I've just gotta look out for her, you know?

I didn't really know what to say. But I could definitely respect what he was saying.

"Of course you do, I totally see where you're coming from, man, but, and you _can_ trust me, everything I do is going towards making her happy. I don't want to see her hurt any more than you do."

"Okay." He said, as though he was choosing to believe me. "I just- I mean, you know our situation, with our dad and everything, the two of us look out for each other, it's just sorta what we do."

I was happy I'd had a chance to talk to him like this, just because he meant so much to her, and although I was already sure he was a good guy- now I could be absolutely certain.

I felt like I could be sure Nola had at least one other person who would always look out for her.

After dinner we decided to just go back to the motel. I think we both felt a little guilty- but realistically I think Jordan and Isla wanted to be alone about as much as Nola and I did.

We made it back to the room, and I led her by the hand over to her bed, lying down, and pulling her into my arms.

"So what'd Jordan want to talk to you about so badly he made Isla stage a bathroom ambush," she laughed, looking up at me.

"Oh," I said, "Um, you know, he was just looking out for you."

Her forehead crinkled, and she looked as though she was getting the wrong idea,

"He really seemed like he was okay with it when I told him this afternoon," she said confusedly.

"Yeah, he is, I think- don't take it the wrong way, we're cool. You've got a great brother you know," I said, reassuringly.

She seemed to be contented with it, closing her eyes and moving in closer to me.

I moved, tipping her over onto her back so that she had her head properly on a pillow. I lay beside her on her side, leaning in and kissing her. I had only intended to kiss her chastely, but when she made to move to pull away, neither did I, and before long, we were trying to figure out a way around the bodily need for oxygen.

I swung my body over, so that I now lay on top of her, one of my legs on either side of her as my left arm supported my weight. God, this afternoon had been amazing, and it seemed as though we were headed back there. Her hands were everywhere, feeling my arms, my stomach, my chest, then they'd come back up, grabbing onto my neck, and lacing through my hair.

As we kissed, I let my own free hand make its way down her body, cupping her breast and moving down across her perfect smooth thigh. I stopped just above her knee, groaning as I felt her tongue stroking the roof of my mouth. With my hold on her leg, I rolled us, so that she now lay on top of me. The new freedom of the position gave me the use of both hands, which I used to explore the outlines of her perfectly curved body. She sat up, rolling her hips against mine, sending both of us gasping.

"Okay, Romeo." She said softly, giving me a few quick closed mouthed kisses before springing off the bed. "I'm gonna go change out of this dress."

She grabbed some stuff from her bag and went into my room to change. I tried to cool off a little. I wanted her so bad, but I knew it was important we didn't jump into anything too quickly.

A few minutes later, she emerged, wearing the now dry cotton boxer shorts from this morning, and another tight, tiny t-shirt.

I sighed loudly, "Woman just what are you trying to do to me?" I said, causing her to giggle bashfully, before running back to her place on the bed.

"But seriously," I said, "I still think we should take this slow."

She smiled up at me, pulling me in for a kiss.

"Brady?" she said.

"mmhmm"

"we're not going to, you know, do _that_ yet, but I _am _going to need you to sleep with me."

I grinned back down at her, pulling her in close, where she fit, perfectly in my arms. And that was where she would stay until morning.

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	14. I and Love and You

**Hey, **

**as always, it's really cool to hear from some of you- so keep up the good work with reviews :)**

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Chapter Fourteen- I and Love and You**

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_**Nola**_

The rest of the break went by with much of the same. We spent a lot of time with Jordan and Isla, seeing the sights around town, and doing regular stuff they did. It was cool, and we had all gotten really comfortable by the time it was over. Isla and Jordan were obviously a perfect couple, they just seemed to compliment each other so nicely, and it was great getting to know her.

By the long trip home on the last day, Brady and I were closer than we'd ever been. I'd had the time of my life the past few days, due, mostly to the fact that our relationship finally felt…right.

But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't dreading getting back to reality and having to face dealing with the logistics of this whole thing.

"So do you think you'll tell your mom?" he asked me when we were a couple hours away from La Push.

That was something I'd been debating for a while.

"I dunno, I mean, she doesn't know you're my teacher or anything, so I can't see why she'd be upset about it- but we have to be careful, I mean, we can't let anyone from school find out, obviously."

He nodded in response.

"I think you should definitely tell her- like you say, it's only people from school we have to keep in the dark, right?" he said, "I mean, as long as we be careful, we should be good."

"Yup." I agreed, popping the 'p' sound.

He took his eyes off the road to smile at me, and then grabbed my hand, squeezing it.

"Just two months." He said, reassuring.

"Two months." I nodded.

It was late when we finally got to my house. He pulled me in close, as we were still in the car, giving me a long, soft kiss, before we got out. He got my bag out of the trunk and walked me to the door.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, I guess." I said.

"Okay" he nodded, before giving me another quick kiss and turning to leave. I watched him go, feeling the familiar loss as he got further and further away. All I could do was hope things went well, I guess.

I accidently over slept the next morning so had to race to get ready on time- going back to school was going to suck for more reasons than one today.

But anyway, it basically meant I would have to save any conversation with my mom until tonight- her and Pete had been asleep when I got in last night, so I'd barely said two words to either of them since being home, before I had to rush out the door.

Brady was waiting for me outside the gate when I got down there.

His face mirrored mine, lighting up as we came into view of each other- even though it'd only been a few days, I'd really gotten used to be around him all the time. I had the urge to launch myself into his arms-the only place I generally wanted to be whenever he was around- but, considering our obligation to keep things under wraps, I remained as composed as possible.

"Hey, you" he said with a grin, as I walked up to him.

"Hey, you" I replied, smiling back. Self-control was definitely going to be hard- I couldn't even hold his hand as we began to make our familiar way to school.

"I missed you this morning," he said quietly, "I'd gotten kind of used to waking up with you there."

"Me too," I sighed. "But I'm telling my mom tonight, which will hopefully give us a little extra freedom."

We continued on, chatting about nothing, really, until we were in sight of the school.

"Okay, so I'll see you fourth, then," Brady, sighed.

"Yeah," I replied a little glumly- "Um, I'll text you tonight after I've told her- let you know if you can come find me…" I said in a low voice.

He gave me a make-my-knees-weak smile before heading off into the school.

Please god, let these two months go by fast.

_**Brady**_

The day was slow. And weird.

My classes went by at freaking glacial paces, a job I normally find to be a lot of fun, for once actually felt like serious _work._

And, as if it didn't already suck enough that I had to be away from Nola when I'd gotten so used to her being there, when I finally _did _see her, I had to pretend like she was just any other student.

And that was the weird part.

The whole way through our class, we both had to act like nothing was going on. Well, let me tell you, as soon as you are forced to act 'normal', you immediately forget what the hell 'normal' actually is.

I just tried to treat her like I did the others, but it felt so wrong, and weird having to pretend, I'm sure I probably defeated the whole purpose by weirding the class out anyway.

Who knows?

I just had to get better at this- enough to keep it up for a couple of months anyway.

As for Nola, she tended just to try not to meet my eye, which seemed like a pretty good tactic. This would all be so much easier if she wasn't so fucking gorgeous, though. By the end of class, it was _not_ just her eyes I had to avoid looking at.

Later that afternoon, as soon as school got out, I went over to see Coll.

I knew he'd be at work still, but it was pretty casual over there at the moment. His team was working construction at the La Push Community centre, giving it a much-needed renovation- well as much of a renovation as the budget allowed, anyway.

There'd be only a few of them working this late in the afternoon, anyway, so I ran over there straight from the high school.

The place looked pretty good, it was coming along at least.

They seemed to be doing a pretty good job. They'd pretty much torn down a good half of the original structure, and then built on further, extending it out to accommodate more people. It was just in the dry walling stage by the looks of things.

"Hey Brady, how's it going man?" Tim, one of the younger of Collin's co-workers, who I knew from my school days, greeted my as I arrived.

"Yeah, yeah, pretty good thanks, Tim, you?" I replied.

"Pretty sweet. You looking for Collin?"

"Yup"

"Inside" he called, as before jumping into one of the three trucks parked outside.

I waved him goodbye and headed in.

"Man!" Collin clapped me on the back almost immediately after I entered the building. "How'd the trip go?" he said it with the excitement of a small child, so I was betting he was on to what had gone on.

"Do you know something..?" I began to ask, before he cut me off.

"Tell me I'm wrong, come on, did you or did you not finally get your girl?" he laughed.

"How'd you..?"

"Oh man!" he shouted, "that is awesome!, and now I can finally meet her, and you can quit whining all the time…"

"Okay, okay, yes- like you need me to say it- but we are basically together now, I guess, we're just not making a public thing about it for obvious reasons. But seriously, how'd you know, I haven't seen you, or even phased since I got back…and I do not _whine."_

"Okay, firstly, you do whine. And second- it didn't take a genius to guess- come on dude, like five days, the two of you practically rooming together…"

"Whatever man," I laughed, "whatever it entertains you to believe. But seriously, I _will_ allow you to meet her, I suppose- but you're under serious threat here, man. Screw this up for me in the _tiniest_ of ways, and I'm telling Jaime stuff that'll cockblock you for weeks."

"And just what would I do?" he asked, in a mock-hurt voice.  
I just looked at him.

"Okay, okay, whatever, man- just let me know when." He conceded. "You're back patrolling tonight, too. First time in like a week I haven't had night duty- you owe me for that- big time. Seriously, I mean, especially since Jaime's been in PA College like all fucking day lately, she's hardly still awake at 4 am…"

"Okay, man, who's the one whining now?"

"Whatever, Campbell, fuck off out of here anyway, you're distracting me from my work." He said, feigning having any sort of work ethic.

I just laughed. "Okay, Coll, I'll catch you later then, yeah?"

_**Nola**_

When I got home from school I just wanted to get it over with.

After today, I was aware that the whole keeping-it-a-secret thing was going to be a lot harder than I imagined. It was just so weird having to act a certain way around Brady all the time, after having gotten so close to him over spring break. So now I was determined to make this easier, in any way possible, and telling my mom was on that list.

Because of the kind of upbringing I'd had, my mom and I were quite close, which meant she respected me a lot- she treated me like more of an equal than most moms did their kids. It wasn't like she let us run rampant or anything. But she just believed that you got places in life by being able to experience things for yourself- so for the last couple of years she'd been a lot more lax about rules and stuff.

When I'd turned eighteen, she'd basically told me she wasn't going to make the rules for me anymore, but she hoped that she'd raised a daughter who treated her with respect. Basically, it meant I could do what I wanted, but she'd be very "disappointed" if I didn't make good choices or whatever.

So I didn't really expect her to have a bad reaction to me dating Brady. I don't think she'd see 21 as too old, but I was a little nervous to tell her about it. It was the same when I'd told Jordan; there was like, and unexplainable anxiety I felt as I built myself up to it. I think maybe it was because I felt like there was so much riding on the outcome. I'd gotten to a point when I was literally _obsessed_ with this guy, and I didn't know what I'd do if mom or Jordan, the two people whose opinions mattered the most, had anything bad to say.

Mom was sitting at the Kitchen table when I got in, reading some home and garden magazine. Moving to the small reservation, and into an actual house, as opposed to the apartment we'd been in before, had really brought out her domestic side. If it wasn't ambitious (and not always successful) dinner recipes, it was decorating and landscaping. It was a side to mom I hadn't seen much of before, but she didn't seem bored, in fact she looked happier than ever, so I figured just go with it.

"Hey hon, good day?" she said cheerily as I walked in the door.

"Hey mom, yeah, alright I guess." I replied, pouring myself a glass of orange juice from the refrigerator and taking the spot opposite her at the table.

"Oh hey!" She said enthusiastically putting her magazine down, "I haven't even seen you since you got back! How was it? How was Jordan? What did you do? Did you meet the infamous Isla? What was she like?-"

"Okay, mom- one thing at a time, okay?"

"Sorry- shoot."

"Um, it was a lot of fun. Uh, we sight saw and stuff, mostly. Jordan seems great- so happy, and yes, I met Isla. She is… well, she's fantastic, mom. I think you'd really like her- her and Jordan seem perfect for each other. Oh, and she got him to cut her hair." I added as an afterthought.

"No way!" mom exclaimed, "god, she must be a keeper then- I'm definitely going to get onto Jordan about introducing me. But anyway, what kinda stuff did you do?- and how did it go being there with Brady?"

"Um, we really just sort of hung out, ya know. There wasn't a huge amount of stuff to do, but Jordan and Isla showed us around campus, and the town and everything. It was it really good time."

"That's great, honey," she said with a smile.

"Um, mom?" I started.

"Mmhmm?"

"I should probably talk to you about, about Brady and me."

She had moved to go back to flipping through her magazine, but at that she cast it aside again, looking back to me intently.

"What is it?" she said, with a tone of voice and facial expression reminiscent of a teenage girl, leaning in close, ready to get the dirt.

I couldn't help but smirk. "Um, well, it's just- remember how I said we were 'friends?"

"Oh honey, you didn't really think I bought that, did you?" She cut across.

"I-uh..well" I didn't really know what to say- I mean, it seemed she already knew what I hadn't even told her.

"Don't look so confused- honey I only had to clap eyes on the two of you to know you're crazy about each other. Just the way you looked at one another, I mean, there's no way you were 'just friends'".

"Okay, but we actually _were_ just friends…then."

"But now you're…"

"not." I finished.

She smirked at me. "well, honey, he seems great, really- and if you're happy I'm happy."

"I'm happy."

"Then I'm happy." She laughed. "And honey- that guy is unbelievable! I mean, it was a no brainer really, he looks like he's walked off some kind of calendar- you do not have a 'just friends' relationship with someone who looks like that!"

"Mom" I groaned, shaking my head.

I couldn't help but feel relieved at how well she'd taken it, and felt silly for doubting it, really.

"So, um," I continued, "would it be alright if I went over to his place tonight? I won't be out too late, or anything-"

"Sure, baby- you're a smart girl and I trust you." She said, nodding her head.

Mom and I talked for a while- now that she knew for sure we were together she wanted some serious dirt about the trip. I'd always felt pretty comfortable talking to her about that kind of stuff, not like a lot of other girls my age, I know.

A little while later I went upstairs and text Brady, letting him know when to come pick me up. He text back right away, and met me right on time, at 5:30, at the door.

He came inside for about five minutes, to say hi to mom and Pete, which I know they would have appreciated.

We just walked to his place, which wasn't far, but was in a different place than I'd imagined.

"Brady, why do you live here?"  
He just smirked at me. "Uh…is this a trick question?"

"No, I mean, that came out wrong- it's just, my house isn't exactly on your route to school- it's actually like a major detour if you haven't noticed."

"I've noticed."

"So…?"

He sighed, turning to look at me with a slightly guilty look. "I wanted to walk with you" he said quietly. Sometimes, like right now, he had the ability to seem so young and innocent, almost childlike, it was rare, but incredibly adorable.

I couldn't believe it. This entire time he'd been leaving early to go out of his way just to talk to me for a few minutes. I didn't know what to say. So I grabbed the back of his neck and kissed him. It seemed to be the only action to sum up how amazing I felt at how sweet he was. We just stopped there, outside the hardware store he lived above, as he pulled me in close, and we explored each other's mouths.

When we finally broke apart he led me up the out door stairwell which led to a small balcony and the front door of his apartment.

"Um, heads up:," he said on the way up, "some of my friends are inside, but they'll piss off soon enough." He laughed.

"I get to meet some of the famous "guys"" I said excitedly. The way he talked about his friends made me anxious to meet them. Even just the look in his eyes he got when telling me something about them made it obvious just how close they were to him.

As we got in the door, a pretty typical all male apartment greeted me. It wasn't disgusting or anything- just not particularly tidy. It had a very 'lived in' vibe, and seemed the kind of place where pizza and xbox made up the main events. There was one main open plan area which housed a corner kitchen, four seater table with some mix-matched chairs, and a living room area with a couple of large beat-up couches pointed at a big screen tv. Then, of course there were about four adjoining rooms off of that, which I took to be the bedrooms and bathroom.

Also present were three people, who got up from their seats in the living space to greet us, as soon as we walked in.

The most obvious, to begin with, were the two massively tall walking Quileute slabs of muscle.

"Nola, this guy here, is Collin," Brady swept in, pointing out the slightly taller of the two, who had a jet black buzz cut and an enormous grin pointed in my direction. I knew him to be Brady's best friend, the one he'd been the closest to for the longest time, so was glad to finally meet him.

"hey, Nola," he said, smiling at me brightly, "this guy talks about you so much, it's kinda weird we're only just meeting."

"yeah, I could say the same about you." I replied warmly.

"I'm Seth," the second guy cut in, giving me another warm friendly smile. Seth, as I knew was one of Brady's roommates, and was someone Brady described as a 'real softy'. I could see it easily, he had one of those faces you just couldn't imagine angry or bitter.

"And I'm Jaime," came a girls voice belonging to the final person in the room. I didn't see her, until Collin seemed to reach behind himself to pull her forward- such was the wall effect created by the three towering men.

When she finally emerged, I was looking at the face of a young woman with deep set dimples and a pretty, heart shaped face. She had chestnut brown hair, which was pulled back into a short ponytail, and quite pale skin, showing me that, for the most part at least, she, like me was not Quileute.

"You're, Collin's girlfriend, right?" I asked,

"that's the one," Collin cut in, giving her shoulders a squeeze.

We all talked for a while, before Seth announced that he had to go out. Brady and Collin talked amongst themselves for a bit, which gave Jaime and I time to get to know each other a little. She seemed really cool. She was super down-to-earth and friendly, and I just felt really comfortable talking to her. It was like that with them all, actually. There was no real awkward- meeting moment, because they were all such laid back people, that I felt comfortable around them right away.

"Okay," Brady said loudly after a while, "time for you two to piss off."

Collin just laughed, "you kids be sure to have fun without us, now." He said, slapping Brady hard on the back.

Jaime looked at me, rolling her eyes,

"It was cool to meet you, Nola, I guess I'll see you again soon?"

"Yeah, you too, sure" I replied as we waved them off.

As soon as they were out the door Brady enveloped me. His arms around me, he picked me up, squeezing me tight against his chest and lifting me so that our faces were level. The speed of the action took me by surprise, making me giggle uncontrollably, my chest vibrating against his.

As my laughter faded, I looked into his eyes, just inches away from my own.

"Hey." He said quietly.

"Hey." I replied.

With that he began to walk quickly across the apartment, before entering one of the adjoining rooms, and gently dropping me onto the big bed, which took up the majority of his square bedroom. I fell with a soft bounce, which quickly became a lot _less_ soft, as Brady dived on next to me, making me spring up and down a little before I turned my body to face him.

I smiled into his big dark brown eyes.

"So today was weird." I said quietly.

"I know," he sighed, putting his arms around me and pulling my body into his.

"I'm pretty sure it won't get much less weird, but I guess it's better than nothing, right?" He said, before giving me a long soft kiss.

"Mmm," I sighed, "definitely better than nothing."

"Yup," he nodded. And with that he moved us. Rolling me over so that I was on my back, with him holding himself up, over me, he paused for a moment to look down in to my eyes, before he began to assault my neck with scorching kisses.

His lips were everywhere, darting all around my neck, trailing down to my collarbone, covering every bit of my exposed flesh. My eyes closed of their own accord, as I took in the sensation of the moment. The heat of his body, the smell of his hair, the _feeling_ of his lips…

Slowing down slightly, he started to work his way up again, peppering kisses up my neck and jaw line to behind my ear. It was there that he stopped for a moment, before, suddenly, I felt his teeth, ever so lightly clasp of my earlobe, for the smallest of moments. I gasped, a mix of pleasure and surprise, as he moved on, coming back to my mouth, meeting it with his once more.

I brought my hands up to lace through his soft dark hair as we kissed deeply. I felt his tongue, first on my lips and then; as his mouth forced mine apart, enter my mouth. The taste as our two tongues met was incredible, something I couldn't get enough of. We continued like that, exploring each other's mouths.

As I trailed my hands down to feel the planes of his stomach I grabbed at the light fabric of his cotton t-shirt, begging it off. He broke apart from me suddenly, ripping it off over his head, before meeting me again, this time rolling us so that I was now on top.

As we kissed I traced his dark, smooth chest, reveling in the feeling of his skin under my fingers.

From this position his hands had freedom to roam, and that they did.

Firm and warm, they were everywhere; in my hair, down my back, on my waist, he explored my body, making my back arch into him, as I yearned to be closer.

"Oh, Brady" I sighed, as he ran his hands over my backside, pausing there to knead the denim-covered flesh slightly.

The next time we broke for air he stopped me, suddenly.

His hand on my cheek, he prevented me from moving in closer, holding me there and staring into my eyes with a look of absolute intensity. He held me in a way that prevented me from being able to look down or shrug away- my usual reactions when he looked at me like this.

"Nola," he whispered after a while. We were both breathing heavily, our chests rising and falling in unison. "I love you." He said finally.

For the first time ever, I felt like crying out of something other than sadness. It was as if I'd always known I felt this way about him, without ever really admitting it, to him or myself.

But now, as I heard those words, nothing could have been clearer.

He pulled me forward, closing his eyes and kissing me, slowly and sweetly.

"I love you." I said, as we broke apart.

It came out easier than anything I'd ever said. Three words that I'd heard, so many times, as being the hardest words to say.

But I guess when you know, you know.

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	15. I'm Yours

**Hey!**

**Okay, I'm a sucky person. **

**I officially suck. **

**I have quite a few stories on here that I am absolutely devoted to and pounce on every time the authors update, so needless to say, I know how annoying it is when they hold out for ages. **

**So I feel so ultra bad that it's been this long between updates!!**

**I'm so, so sorry. My excuse is that I've been so busy at school lately- it's been crazy. But, on the plus side, next week is the last week of term before 2 full weeks of holiday! Yay! and I will have plenty of time to get chapters written and up then :)**

**Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, and as always, keep them coming. :D**

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Chapter Fifteen- I'm Yours**

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_**Brady**_

_You're late._

Fuck.

Typical, the one time in like forever, that I actually show up late to a patrol and Sam's on.

Brilliant.

I'd been due to start at 10, so I was only like 20 minutes late. Having patrol was a total drag, and all I wanted was to be back in my apartment with Nola…

_Brady, I don't give a fuck what or who you were doing, you're late and you're fucking lucky nothing went down in the last half hour. _

_Jesus, Sam, I'm sorry, and I'm here. _And chill the fuck out.

I added without thinking. It wasn't exactly easy to remember to control your thoughts all the time.

We were separated, running alternate edges of the reservation, and continued like that for the rest of the night, which turned out to be entirely uneventful.

I never used to mind patrols before I imprinted- even if nothing went down, I used to just enjoy the chance to get out for a bit of a run- eight years on and I still get off on the rush that kind of speed gives you.

But now, the novelty of spending hours on end patrolling the rez was definitely starting to tire.

Nola and I had had a pretty sweet night together. We spent the most of the night making out in my room, to be honest, which was providing me with some great flashbacks right now. The only problem was, I was currently sharing my mind with an uptight Alpha. Who'd curse me every ten minutes when I found myself going back to the feeling of Nola's perfect lips leaving a trail of electric kisses all the way down my bare torso….

Fuck.

Of all the wolves, I definitely was not one to really have to worry about constantly controlling my thoughts while phased, until now at least. Unfortunately for me, the same can't be said for the majority of my brothers. Paul and Mathew were particularly bad at it, and let me tell you, it's a little awkward greeting Rachel and Sarah at a pack get togethers, when you've seen them…well, you get the idea.

The only reason Sam was being like this was because he was agitated. He's spent most of the night thinking about how he couldn't get any sex or sleep. Babies, I guess.

Anyways, needless to say, I was pretty relieved when I could finally get home and crash at around four am.

Having to haul myself out of bed at just after 7 was a total bitch, though. Especially because I could, with the help of my heightened wolf-senses, still smell the remnants of Nola's scent on my pillow, from where she'd lain last night.

But I was alerted out of bed by a deafening banging on my bedroom door.

"Brady!" Shouted the voice I recognized to belong to Ozzy. It was kind of unusual he was up this early, he worked as a security guard at a clothing store in Port Angeles, so usually had his days free and slept in.

I pulled on a pair of sweats off the floor, and opened the door, to find him standing about two inches away from my face.

"Oh, good, you're up." He said with a kind of cheeky grin.

I just gave him a no-nonsense look. My three hours sleep were not going to serve me well today.

"Hey, listen, Brady, I was wondering- would it be all good if I borrowed your car today- it's just that Emily said I could take Avis out and Quil's still working on my truck. Come, on, man I'd seriously owe you"

Ozzy drove a notorious rust bucket of an old truck, which any mechanic probably would have written off by now, because of how often something went wrong with it. But with free service at the local garage, he really didn't see the incentive to getting a new one.

Besides, in moments like these, he usually just borrowed one from the rest of us, today, I was the lucky candidate.

"Whatever, I don't see why not." I said sheepishly.

"Aw, cheers man, that's cool, hey I'll catch you later on" he said enthusiastically before tearing out of the house to head over to the Uleys, leaving me to wonder if when she let Ozzy take her daughter for the day, Emily had any idea just how early that day would start.

Once I got totally ready to get to work, I still had forever before I actually had to be there, but couldn't see the point hanging round here doing nothing. So I kinda just headed over to Nola's to wait- I know it sounds stupid, but the imprint makes me feel like _not_ being close to her is just wrong.

So I just sorta hung around outside her gate.

After less than a minute, I felt my phone vibrate from the back pocket of my shorts.

_Come in._

It said.

I felt a little weird, it was the morning and her parents were probably around- not that I was on bad terms with them or anything, but, well let's just say I was a little apprehensive about looking like I was 'just popping in' for breakfast all of a sudden.

But more than that, I wanted to be closer to Nola, so I walked down the familiar cobbled path to her front door.

I was kinda unsure whether I was supposed to knock or whatever, but didn't have to make the decision because just as I got the door, it swung open.

"Good morning," she said enthusiastically, while simultaneously dragging me inside the house by the bottom of my t-shirt.

I couldn't help the warm, automatic smile that crept across my face as I looked at her, bright eyed and gorgeous as ever.

She now pulled at my shirt, urging me down to meet her lips with mine.

"Where's.." I started when we finally broke apart.

"Pete took my mom out for Breakfast- today's their one-year anniversary." She said, "so what were you doing out there so early anyway?- not that I'm complaining,"

"Uh, well, I sorta got an unintentional early start, and well- just thought I'd come wait here." I didn't know if it would sound too intense if I told her the truth- that I would rather stand outside her house than wait in mine, just because it was about a half a mile nearer to her.

She looked at me a little quizzically before she gave up to pursue other things.

"Oh well, more importantly- I'm glad you did, because now we have some time before we have to get on with the whole charade" she rolled her eyes, "I've just gotta grab some breakfast, you want some?" she asked, shaking a cereal box at me and sitting down at the small round breakfast table.

Okay, so I'd technically already eaten, but like I was going to turn down food.

I sat opposite her as she poured me a bowl, and we ate in comfortable silence, hardly breaking eye contact the entire time.

"so," she said as we'd cleared away the breakfast dishes and stood together at the sink, "what should we do now?"

"I dunno," I replied, staring into her eyes, a smile playing on my lips, "we have about…25 minutes before we have to leave."

"hmm…she said, smirking and taking a step closer to me, so that our chests were touching, "I might be able to think of something we could do"

"Oh yeah?" I teased.

"Yeah." She replied, before her soft palms were on the back of my neck, pulling me down to her level, where we kissed, passionately.

All I could do at times like this was revel in the feeling of the moment, she was so incredible it was unfathomable. I could hardly believe it was her tongue roaming my mouth, her hands on my scalp, her waist under my palms.

I swept her up, placing her on the countertop.

She giggled at the surprising change, linking her legs behind my back, trapping me.

I buried my face in her neck, inhaling the world's most intoxicating scent, and leaving kisses in a trail down her delicious skin.

"_Brady,"_ she sighed, weaving her fingers under my shirt to trace the planes of my back, making me shudder.

She pulled her arms out from under my t-shirt, replacing them around my neck while she clenched her legs around my back, latching herself onto me.

"Take me upstairs." She breathed.

Driven by my all-consuming desire I carried her swiftly out of the room, following her directions up the stairs and entering the second room along the second floor hallway.

Her room was big and light, and so obviously hers.

I placed her down softly onto the pale blue bedspread, and she forcefully pulled me down on top of her. Her palms on my face, she brought me in to kiss her again, allowing me to enter the state of utter bliss I found when our mouths connected.

She hadn't removed her legs from their hold around me, and she now began to roll her hips sending us both gasping at the contact.

I allowed my hands to roam free, exploring her silky skin from her waist to her hips, to her tights-covered thighs, and back up again. From her position, her shirt had ridden up, so that her flat stomach was exposed up until just above her belly button. She shuddered as I traced circles around it, before snaking my hand up further caressing each perfect breast, her nipples hardening through the thin material of her bra.

I could smell the intoxicating scent of her arousal intensify as she let out a moan which my mouth suppressed.

"God, I love you." I whispered, as I ran my nose up and down her neck, taking in her scent and burying my face in her hair.

She sighed, relaxing her hold around me by unhooking her legs.

"Brady-" she started.

"don't say it." I groaned.

I reluctantly rolled off of her, us both collapsing, defeated next to each other on the bed.

"I wish we could stay here all day" She said quietly.

I smiled sadly at her.

After a few moments we finally got up, making ourselves presentable again.

I watched as she shook out her long, luxurious golden hair, then smoothing it down to fall down her back and around her face and shoulders.

After we got ourselves ready- and had about fifty "last" kisses, we finally made the move and left the house- making the transition between the real and the fake.

We then resumed our roles, as teacher and student.

_**Nola**_

That morning I'd woken up pretty early and decided I might as well just get ready.

Pete had already told me what he was planning for today with mom, so it wasn't a surprise when they left the house at like 7.30am. It seemed Pete was definitely the type to go all out on anniversaries- the breakfast thing was merely the beginning from what I'd heard about it.

I had a shower and was just finishing getting dressed when I felt him here.

I know that sounds so weird, and I kind of mentally cringe every time I think something like that- because it totally makes me seem like some kind of freaky spiritual fanatic, but it's always been like that with Brady.

For some reason, when he's around, I know he is, without having to see him. It's honestly like I can feel him the closer he gets to me, and I get this pull in my body that makes me feel like all I want is to follow it. Follow the tug that leads to him. Weird I know, but I couldn't explain it, it just was.

I looked out my window, and sure enough, he was just walking up to my gate. I watched him stop in front of it, and kind of look as though he was just going to wait for me.

I checked the clock on my bedside table to make sure I had it right. Yup, he was definitely extremely early.

My thoughts quickly switched to the beauty of this coincidence. No matter what had caused him to be early, he was, and my parents were out, I was basically ready, and we were alone.

I quickly texted him to come inside and ran down to meet him.

Although the time ended up feeling a lot more like 5 minutes, it was still an excellent way to spend the morning. I sure as hell didn't think there'd be a day when making out with Brady would get _old. _He was amazing.

Which made having to go back to the whole "act" thing extremely sucky.

We finally tore ourselves away from the house (and each other) and walked to school chatting in as normal way as possible.

I made my way through the day trying not to think about the weird loss I felt whenever Brady wasn't around. I didn't want to be one of those girls whose lives revolved completely around their boyfriend, but honestly, the fact of the matter was- I wanted to be around him _all the time. _

"Hey, so I never asked yesterday, but how was spring break?" Kiera questioned when I saw her that morning, "Did you end up going to visit your brother?"

"Yeah, I did, it was great to spend some time with him," I said, smiling. "What about you, how was the family road trip?"

"Aargh, don't even get me started-" she groaned, "as if it wasn't bad enough, I'm getting texts the entire time about how 'awesome' it is in San Diego."

"Yeah, that's gotta suck. At least there's only a couple months left until summer." I said, optimistically.

"Yeah, I know, I'm seriously just hanging out till then" she said.

"Absolutely" I said. Didn't I know it.

After what felt like about 12 hours, fourth period had come around. I came out of the locker room, changed for P.E. and went with the class, jogging around the field.

I hadn't even really seen Brady yet, so the weirdness was still to come.

"You guys coming Saturday?" Ali asked, catching up to run alongside Kiera and me.

"Coming to what?" Kiera asked,

"Oh you don't know?" she said, "Erica's found some fresh meat," she said, rolling her eyes. Erica was one of the girls in our little group of friends- and she was _particularly_ boy orientated. With a population this tiny, I'd have thought everyone would sort of know each other, but Erica was always finding new 'potentials' as she called them.

"Yeah, she's hung up on some guy she said a few words to yesterday afternoon, so now a bunch of us have gotta go to some party he's having- so as not to make her seem desperate enough to come alone-" she laughed. At this point, Erica herself ran up, overtaking us,

"You two better get your asses there, too, I need a serious 'crowd' and this one was utter shit last time." She said, flicking her head in Ali's direction, who shrugged,

"Sorry that I actually decided to go home after about ten years of standing there while you ask, "do you think he's happy I'm here?" "should I go over there?" She laughed.

By this time, we had stopped and were stretching, ready for the lesson.

Brady had us playing soccer out on the football field, which meant I didn't see a lot of him, meaning a lot less pretending.

By the end of the lesson Erica was off in full obsession mode over this guy, who she didn't even know the name of.

"seriously, though, he asked you to his party, how can you not know?" Danielle asked,

"I don't know, it just sort of never came up," she replied, vacantly.

"But seriously you guys, he's so amazingly hot! I mean, maybe not quite the incredible Mr Campbell over there, but still." She said, with a sigh.

I felt my stomach jolt, and prayed no one saw me blush.

We started to collect up the gear and walk back in to the locker rooms,

"But you'll all come right?" she said hopefully.

"um, I don't know," I replied..

"Oh, come on, it might be alright," Kiera said to me,

"What's on the agenda, ladies?" one of the guys, JT asked, swooping in behind us.

"Party on Saturday night," Erica said confidently,

"Whose?" JT asked, throwing an arm around each of Kiera and my shoulders. JT was a pretty okay guy. He was pretty funny and super confident- so you never really knew what he was about to do, but he wasn't bad to have around.  
"This...guy's" Erica said, embarrassed.

JT gave me a look that said: explain.

"She never asked his name, but he is, apparently "incredibly hot" I stated, matter-of-factly.

"Oh, well, if you ladies are going, me and some of the guys may just have to attend- but not with you of course, don't worry ladies, I know how it is, 'you don't bring sand to the beach, right?"

We made it to the locker rooms entrance, laughing, most of the girls making their way inside.

"Hey Nola, so uh, if we're both gonna be at this party on Saturday- that is, of course a little unlikely as it relies on Erica actually remembering its location. But, should something strange happen and we both wind up there…uh, well, you know, you're a really cool girl and uh…" JT was normally so over confident, this was so completely out of character for him. Shit I could see where this was going, but I didn't know what to say.

I don't know what he took my hesitation for, but suddenly, he brought his hand up to my face.

Oh god, oh god.

"Um, you're a cool guy too, JT, I mean you know, you're a friend, and everything…" But right then my babble had no need to continue, because we were interrupted, by someone, storming through the corridor, making as much noise as possible. JT jumped back, right before the sound of a loud metallic bang resounded from somewhere down around the corner.

My confusion didn't last long.

An equally puzzled JT poked his head round the corner, before coming back and saying,

"Wow, wonder what's got Mr Campbell so pissed."

Shit. Brady.

I don't know why I didn't realize right away.

"Um so, yeah, you were saying…"

Oh yeah, that. "Uh, look JT you're a great ya know, _friend _and everything, and uh, Saturday should be cool." I practically spat out before running into the locker rooms to change. Shit.

Could that have gone any worse?

_**Brady**_

Fuck. Fuck. Fucking cool it!

I was in my office trying to coax myself into taking deep breaths so that I could just keep my fucking shape, let alone stop myself from going out then and ripping a teenage boy's head off.

Fuck.

I'd just been coming in from the lesson on the way to my office, and had caught the skeesy kid trying to come onto Nola. Next thing, I round the corner and he's got his fucking hands on her!

Shit. I've gotta calm down.

I'd gotten so heated, I'd punched one of the damn lockers too, so I was going to have to sort that out.

At least the trembling had finally stopped. But I still didn't trust myself to go out there.

A few moments later I heard the bell sound for lunch, followed by the sounds of the students exiting the building.

By this time, I was relatively calm- well, at least to the point where I was no longer in danger of phasing into a giant wolf on a high school campus.

Just then I felt Nola getting closer. And then she was behind the door.

She didn't knock. But I knew she was there, just standing there, waiting, pausing.

I felt like an asshole. I probably fucking scared her or something.

I went to the door, opening it to find her standing there, obviously reluctant about whether or not she was coming or going.

"Come in." I said, ushering her inside and closing the door behind me.

When she was safely inside my office she seemed to have decided on a course of action,

"What was that?" she asked, obviously annoyed, "A bunch of people are talking about it, you totally _freaked out" _

"I- urgh!-he-" Shit why the hell couldn't I find the words?

"What Brady? Some guy asked me out? It's awkward, but it happens sometimes, what did you think, I was going to run off with him?"

I'd never seen her even remotely displeased before, let alone angry.

"No, well, I don't know- that guy just pissed me off, okay, look, no one's going to have any idea why I was angry.- and anyway, what do you mean, "it happens"?

"Well, I don't know, I don't date- I haven't appeared to anyway, so sometimes guys ask me out or whatever- It's no big deal, Brady." She said matter-of-factly.

"Why didn't you tell me this?" I asked, not ready to completely calm down yet.

"Why _would_ I tell you?" She asked, "Brady, it's not like it means anything at all, okay? God, I don't see how you can get so pissed off by it, don't you at least trust _me?"_

Shit. This just felt wrong.  
I hated that we were having a fight- it was just so unnatural. And even now, when I was being stupid, and felt all this anger, all I wanted was for us to get to the part where everything was okay again.

I sighed. "I'm sorry. I do trust you-"

"Well obviously you don't or it wouldn't bother you so much" She bit back.

"No. No that's not it. I trust you Nola, okay, I, I- I fucking love you, and I know you're not gonna go off with that guy. It's just that, well- I see the way he looks at you, and it's just killing me that I can't show everyone in the world that we're together. That I'm yours. That you're mine. That we do fucking love each other."

She stepped close to me, it was clear from her body language that she'd lost her former anger.

She exhaled deeply.

"Brady, all I wish every minute of the day is that the world can be right, and we can be together, all the time, without having to worry about everything else."

I loved hearing her say things like that- I could hardly believe someone so perfect could feel those things for me, and hearing them come out of her mouth made me instantly happier.

She stepped even closer, and I put my arms around her- feeling truly comfortable for the first time since this morning.

She put her small soft palms on my cheeks, her amazing icy eyes boring through me.

"I'm yours" she said softly, before leaning up for a kiss.

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**Now go review!!**


	16. Dirty Little Secret

**Hey guys, **

**cool to hear from you, as usual. Keep those reviews coming, it's always cool to get feedback and suggestions. **

**Sorry about the wait, again. **

**This chapter was originally part of a super-long chapter I've written, but it just got too long winded, and just kept going and going, so I decided to chop it in half. So if this one feels a little open-ended, just rest assured, the next one is not far away.**

**Hope you're liking the story. :)**

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Chapter 16- Dirty Little Secret

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_**Nola**_

"Okay, ow." My tailbone hit the steering wheel. Hard.

Damnit, making out in a car seems a lot less painful in the movies, but that may be due to the fact that the actor couples don't include one extremely bulky six-and-a-half feet tall Quileute muscle man.

"You okay?" Brady asked, concerned, pulling away as I tried to continue our kissing, "Are you hurt?"

"No," I laughed, "I think I'll survive". I assured him before enthusiastically resuming our earlier activity.

We were parked on the side of the road about 3 blocks away from my house, having just come back from dinner in Forks, and neither of us was ready to leave just yet.  
"So tell me again why I can't see you tomorrow night?" Brady whined when we finally broke for air.

"I told you, I have to go out with my friends- they'll kill me if I don't. Of course, I'd love for you to come too, but you'd have to help me think of a way to explain the fact that our P.E. teacher will be joining us for a night of boy-hunting."

He laughed. "Wait a minute, boy hunting? This is the first I'm hearing of any boy-hunting?" he said in mock disapproval,

"Oh relax!" I laughed, "I can assure you I am more than happy with the one I've got," I said, leaning my forehead against his.

He sighed loudly. "Okay, but I'm seeing you Sunday?" I loved when Brady was like this, because it showed me that, to some extent he mirrored my feelings for him. I know I wanted to be with him every second possible, so it was nice to hear he felt the same.

"Absolutely, I'll call you tomorrow sometime, anyway." I said, moving to try and continue the festivities.

Brady groaned, "I should really get you home…"

I started to leave a trail of open-mouthed kisses on his skin, working my way down the side of his neck.

"But…maybe just…five…more minutes." He mumbled quietly.

_**Brady**_

Over the course of that week Nola and I managed to pretty much get into the swing of things. We'd see each other most nights- her mom was pretty cool about letting her come over to mine after she was done with her homework or whatever- and other than it still being a little weird to have to keep things a secret, everything was great.

I was a little annoyed, on a selfish level that I couldn't spend tomorrow night with her, but she was going out with her friends, which I knew was important, so I figured I'd just hang with some of the guys.

It sometimes felt weird that she didn't know about _everything. _But I couldn't figure out for the life of me how or when to tell her.  
Obviously, I knew there probably wasn't really a _good_ time to find out your boyfriends a freaking werewolf, but I was just wimping out I guess. I didn't know how she'd react, and I was so ecstatic we could finally be together that I guess I just didn't want to ruin things.

I had patrolled the night before, so was running on minimal sleep and pretty much hit the sheets as soon as I got home around 10.

The next morning I woke, having slept late, to the sound of my phone vibrating loudly on the hardwood floor of my room.

I groggily picked it up, reading the message.

It was from Collin: _Embry's having a party tonight- be there._

I considered my options. I couldn't really see why I wouldn't go. I knew Nola was doing her own thing, and it would probably be a pretty good time. Embry and Quil had a pretty decent place for it- as we knew from repeated experience, and they threw a good party too.

My stomach growled obnoxiously, so I went out the Kitchen in search of lunch, but instead found Ozzy.

"Hey man, just heading over to the Uley's wanta come with?"

I thought about it for a second. For as long as I can remember Emily and Sam's place has been the go-to when you want food- Emily's the best when it comes to that, and there always seemed to be massive helpings of something or other over there, so I followed my stomach and joined him.

We walked in the door to find Emily and Kim sitting together in the living room chatting quietly and drinking coffee. We'd been in there about a second when Kim said violently in a low voice "You wake those kids- you die."

"Noted." I said, holding my hands up, and strolling quietly into the house.

"Hey, Emily, Kim." Ozzy said warmly, without really pausing on his path to the backyard.

Through the open double doors which lead from the Uley's living room through to outside, I could make out what looked like Quil's bulky frame squashed into the small pink princess playhouse in the back corner of the yard. His imprint, a now eleven-year old Claire and her cousin, little Avis, seemed to find it hilarious as they included him in some tea party-esque game.

Ozzy and Sam had built Avis' playhouse together last summer, and despite the generally awful weather of the pacific northwest she spent every minute she could in it.

I made to follow, thinking I'd leave Kim and Emily to their girl-talk or whatever it was they were doing, but was stopped in my tracks.

"Oh no you don't" Kim said, grabbing hold of my arm as I passed her chair.

"Sit." She commanded. Kim was a blunt, no-nonsense sort, who could be a hell of a great time when she wanted to be. I had a few memories of earlier pack parties to prove that, but if I could tell you anything, it would be that those boys of hers are going to have a hard time getting around her when they're older.

"So," she said, switching into full gossip-monger mode, while also keeping her voice quiet so as not to wake up Lochie and the twins, asleep in the next room. "You have to tell us all about your mystery girl." She smiled.

"Mystery?"

"Well," Emily cut in, "you imprinted months ago, and we're all dying to meet her and know more, we've hardly heard anything."

"And besides, we also heard you two are finally on, well, more _friendly _terms." Kim added, raising her eyebrows.

Nothing was kept secret in this pack. The guys new everything about the guys. And those same guys told their girls everything they knew about the other guys.

I half blushed.

"Oh come on," said Kim, "It's totally great, and we all just can't wait to meet her"

"What so you can do some kind of wolf-girl initiation and tell her embarrassing stories about me" I joked.

"Absolutely." She replied.

"But seriously," I said, figuring I'd take advantage of the moment, "I've obviously got, you know, _a lot_ to fill her in on. And well, how do you think I should do it? I mean, how do you think would be the best way to be told?"

They looked at each other for a while.

"It's big." Kim said finally. "It's not something that can just be spat out and that's that. Um, the best way?" She questioned.

"Well, with Sam and I, I just kind of found out." Emily said. "I mean, you know the…_situation_…and well, through all the drama of everything that happened, I heard a lot of, well, little snippets of things that I pieced it together myself, sort of. I mean, I didn't understand the full extent of it, but I knew there was something going on, and so, when Sam told me, it was more of a confirmation. But, well as you know, our situation was different, and the concept of imprinting was really the big issue at the time."

I nodded, I'd figured it had gone differently for Emily, her and Sam's story was definitely one of the more complicated. Sam had been dating, and really, really in love with, Leah, the only female member of the pack.

So, when he imprinted on Emily it had created a lot of drama and heartache. All of guys had been inside Sam's head, and his position with the whole imprint thing is definitely not one any of us envy. We all know how he feels about Emily of course- those two are totally made for each other, but we knew that somewhere deep down Sam still cared immensely for Leah.  
She didn't phase anymore. Leah had left the pack just over six years ago. She'd moved down to where she'd gotten a business degree, and was doing really well for herself in Portland. She still had family here, and came and visited quite often, but her life definitely seemed a lot better ever since she had removed herself from the pack. It just had to be impossible to move on from something like that when it was in your face- or, in her case, your head, all the time.

"Well, all I can say, Brady is that she needs to be told calmly and sincerely- by _you._" Said Kim. "When I found out, it was because Paul opened his idiot mouth about something, so Jared had to tell me to clarify. It was really early in our relationship, and it hit me like a bus- and Brady, I was raised Quileute, I knew the stories."

"Yeah," Emily cut in, "it's going to be a lot harder, considering it'll be the first she's hearing of it all. But as Kim says, just be calm and honest, I'm sure you'll find the words." She said with her warm smile.

"Thanks, you guys."

"But try to be quick about it, won't ya?" Kim said, flashing me a grin, "we're hanging out to meet the newest member of our group."

"Yeah, yeah," I said rolling my eyes.

I took that point as a cue to make my way outside to see what the guys were doing.

I found them all, involved deeply in some game, which now took place just outside the play house, which was definitely not big enough to accommodate the full forms of two wolves.

"Hey Brady," Claire said, smiling up at me, before blushing and quickly looking away.

"Brady, what's up man? You coming to ours tonight?" Quil asked.

"Yeah, yeah, can't see why not, should be decent. Are you going, Oz?"

"Nah, can't I gotta work." Ozzy replied, tearing himself away from some doll-orientated game with Avis.

"What's going on at your place?" Claire asked Quil.

"Oh, nothing much, Claire-bear, Embry's just having a party."

"Party?" Avis said jumping up, animatedly. "Qwil! Qwil! Qwil! Is it Embwy's Birthday?"

"Haha no, kiddo, it's not a birthday party, it's a…well, it's a different kind of party." Quil started, adding, "I'll let you clear up that little bit of confusion," to Ozzy, clapping him on the shoulder.

After an afternoon hanging at the Uleys, where eventually a few more people showed up, which had a tendency to happen on the weekends, I headed over to Embry and Quil's place around 6.

Only a few people were there by then, and they were almost all from the pack.

I headed over to where Collin was chatting to Embry in the Kitchen.

"Brady, glad you could make it, glad you could make it." Embry said, relieving me of my contribution- the 12 pack I held in my hand, and adding it to the ample stock of beer that dominated the kitchen.

"So, what exactly are we celebrating here?" I asked.

"No, no my friend," Embry said, giving me a light slap on the cheek, "the question is not what _are_ we celebrating, the question is what _aren't _we celebrating. What's not to celebrate? We're young, free, devastatingly attractive- of course, sorry boys, I can only speak for myself, but don't be discouraged, I'm sure you have other stuff going for you." He joked, "now, seriously, I've invited a bunch of people, and good times will be had by all. Am I right, or am I right?"

"He appears to be right." Seth said, deadpan, as he swooped in to the kitchen, grabbing a can.

And he pretty much was.  
It was a good time, most of the pack guys showed up. A highlight being the moment, about 4 minutes after he even showed up, when Paul left immediately, following an extremely displeased call from Rachel. The look of pure terror on his face when he hung up the phone was priceless. That guy had to be the most whipped of all imprinted wolves, but for good reason- when it came to Paul it was a pretty damn good thing _someone_ had managed to tame him.

It wasn't until around 9 o'clock, though when things got a little…strange for me.

_**Nola**_

"Your house is awesome" Kiera noted, as she followed me into my room, "and it does have the added benefit of being noticeably empty" She added.

"Yeah, mom and Pete decided to go to Seattle for the weekend at the last minute- I mean, you know, he'd been planning it for a while but he surprised her for their anniversary."

"God, I envy you that. My parents are never _not_ around- not to mention my little brother who causes enough destruction to be like five people in himself."

I laughed. We were getting ready to go to this party, which we would be leaving for in about an hour. Kiera was driving us, and we'd meet the others there- although I'd been in La Push for quite a while now this was the first time I'd really been _out_ with my friends. Besides Brady I mean.

I'd been over to Kiera's house once before, but other than that I hadn't really hung out much outside of school. But the party should be cool.

"So what are you wearing anyway?" she said, sitting cross-legged on my bed.

"Um, I don't know for sure, I mean, options are a little limited considering it's freaking cold"

I opened my closet and began to inspect.

Forty minutes later and we were both dressed and applying the finishing touches. I figured the party was only really a jeans-appropriate event, anyway, so was wearing my ultra tight, ultra dark skinny jeans with a boyfriend-style blue and white pinstriped oxford shirt.

I put on my red heels-, which I'd still only worn a couple of times, so was happy for the opportunity.

We arrived at the party just before nine- Erica was obsessed with whether or not she'd seem too eager, so we decided to leave it a little later.

As I got out of the car it was obvious the smallish house-behind-an-auto shop was pretty crowded and the music was pumping pretty loud, but over it all, I could still feel it.

That weird, unexplainable feeling I got whenever…Brady was near.

Shit.

"Hey, let's go in. You okay?" Kiera asked me, as I stood there, spaced out for a second.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Was it possible we just happened to be at the same party? I had no idea what to do, so, because I couldn't think of a better option, I mindlessly followed and entered the place.

As we got inside Erica, Ali, and Danielle pounced on us.

"So, have you talked to him yet?" Kiera asked, as I frantically tried to look around the room inconspicuously.

I couldn't see him, but for some reason, I knew he was unmistakably there.

Danielle rolled her eyes. "Nope."

"Okay, but seriously you guys, you'll see what I mean when you see him."

"Well where is he?" Kiera asked.

"Um, well, I don't know, he's sorta, not here."

"What?"

"Yeah, well I can't find him."

_**Brady**_

Nola.

I could hear her. Smell her. _Feel_ her here.

Shit. What was she doing here?

Oh fuck. This was the party.

I couldn't believe I'd been so stupid as not to cotton on sooner. This was the party her and her friends were coming to.

I had been out of the house for the last little while with Lucas, dealing with some idiot kid, who'd gotten drunk and broken into the garage.

We'd ended up having to walk the moron home; after we'd found out he was only about 16 anyway.

So it was now, when we just walked back in the door, that it hit me.

And what the hell was I going to do?

I sure as hell couldn't let on anything- not when she was with her friends. And plus, I had to think about how I should act as a teacher- I mean, what would a teacher do if he discovered some students at a party? Fuck knows. I'd been a teacher about five minutes. Besides, I didn't feel like I could exactly chide them for drinking and partying, Collin and I had been buying alcohol since we were 14.

"You okay?" Luke asked from beside me, as I stood there, debating all of this.

"She's here man- Nola and a bunch of her friends."

"Fuck. Where?" He asked, catching on quickly.

At that, I now followed my senses and could see her, over the far side of the room. Through the thick mass of people, I wasn't sure if she could see me or not.

I tried to be subtle about pointing her out to Luke.  
He nodded, recognizing her from in my thoughts.

"Okay, you going over there?" He said.

"I dunno, I mean, what the fuck do I say?"

_**Nola**_

As soon as he entered the room I knew. Before I'd felt his presence near, but now it was that full blown connection- the feeling I got when he was in the room, when he was close.

I tried to act normal but it was hard to follow the conversation whilst trying to sort out some kind of plan of attack.

"Oh. My. God." Kiera said suddenly. "Okay, don't panic-" I realized she must have noticed him. "I haven't been body-snatched by Erica or anything, but the best looking guy I have ever seen just walked in the door." Oh.

Just then Erica came up behind us. "Oh my god, the best looking guy I've ever seen just walked in the door."

I was a little confused. I craned my neck to see whom they were talking about and realized. Brady had entered with someone- one of his friends I hadn't met, I guessed, who was currently blocking him from our view. Personally, I thought the guy had nothing on Brady, but the girls were going crazy.  
"Shit, that guy is incredible." Ali said, taking a gulp of her drink, transfixed.

I just stood there, waiting for someone to realize.

"No. No. No. Okay, forget about him for a second." Erica said firmly. "I wanted to tell you that I did it! I talked to him!" Reluctantly, everyone turned around to look at her.

"Yup." She said, with a look of great accomplishment. "I talked to _Embry."_ She said, emphasizing the name.

"So what'd you say?" I asked,

"Okay," she said, enthusiastically, "So I was looking for the bathroom, when all of a sudden, there he was. So anyway, I said, "hey, where's the bathroom?" and he said "It's just down there on your left"- and that's when he pointed towards the hall, so then I said "thanks" and he said "no prob". She finished as though having told the greatest story of all time.

"That's it?" said Ali.

"But then, how do you know his name?" Kiera asked.

"Um, well, I heard someone call out "Hey Embry, and he answered." She said bashfully.

"But don't you see? Now I'm on his radar." She said matter-of-factly.

We rolled our eyes, laughing.

"Holy shit." Here we go. It was Danielle, who was the tallest of our number and happened to spot him first.

"You'll never believe who's here, look." She said.

"Oh, my god- it's Mr. Sex-God" said Ali, as she noticed.

"You think he'll care we're here?" Kiera said.

"I don't know" I replied, as everyone seemed to get over the initial shock of realizing teachers are actually real people. Even the young, attractive ones.

After a while debating the group decided to "seem unfazed". To go ahead just hanging out, making it seem like we either, a) hadn't noticed he was here, or b) had noticed, but were, too full of sophistication to care. At least that was the plan for the rest of them. But for me, I was just trying to hope like hell my friends didn't figure out I was dating the teacher they were trying to dodge.

A little while later and I decided I'd try to go talk to him- away from my friends, of course.

"Hey, you guys, I'm just gonna go to the bathroom," I said, quickly leaving before someone decided to come with.

I began to walk over to the other side of the room.

"Nola! Hey, how are you?" It was Jaime.

"Oh, hey, Jaime. I'm great, what about you?"

"Yeah, fine." She laughed "are you here with Brady?"

"Um…not exactly. Well, not intentionally, anyway."

"Oh," she laughed, "well, he's over there with Collin- I mean, no surprises there, right? The two of them come as a package deal most of the time."

"Yeah, thanks." I laughed, "good to see you" I said before making off in the direction she'd pointed out.

I was pretty sure my friends couldn't see me from here, but as I got closer, our eyes met, and I couldn't help but smile. It was just the effect his presence had on me.

I signaled for him to follow me outside.

We walked out the through the hall and around the side of the house, where there was no one really around.

"So, the guy your friend's crushing on is Embry." He said, laughing.

I just smiled.

"This is crazy."

"Well, this is La Push" he replied, "typical there could only be one party in one weekend- I just can't believe I didn't realize."

He looked around quickly, before pulling me in, and holding me to his warm body. God, this felt like home.

"I just want to leave with you." I whispered into his chest.

"Then let's leave." He replied in a low voice. "Seriously, you go talk to your friends and then meet me out front."

"But, what do I tell them? I mean, I came with Kiera, she's driving me home-" but quickly, we pulled apart at the sound of someone's footsteps coming around the corner.

Just then, Kiera and Danielle came into view.

"There you are Nola." Kiera said, "Is everything okay- oh, hi…Mr. Campbell"

"Hey, girls," Brady said awkwardly.

"Um, actually, I'm not feeling too well" I ad-libbed, "I just came out here to…get some fresh air."

"Oh, do you need to leave?" Kiera asked, concerned, while Danielle tried to subtle eye-up Brady out of the corner of her eye.

"Um, that's okay, I don't want to ruin your night…"

"Nola, if you need a ride, I can drive you" Brady cut in.

Kiera and Danielle's eyes went wide.

I tried to act uncomfortable.

"Um.." I took the sight of their two sets of eyes and nodding heads, urging me on, as the green light.

"Yeah, that would be great, thanks _Mr. Campbell." _I said.

So just like that, we left. Leaving my friends extremely curious and enthralled- I knew I could expect quite a few text messages tomorrow morning.

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**Now = Review Time!!**


	17. Coming Clean

**AN: Hey everyone, **

**so, this one's a shorter chapter, I know, but bear in mind it's really just a part two from the last one.**

**Hope you like it- I know a lot of people have been really hanging out for this to happen. It was actually quite a hard chapter to write, so please review, and tell me what you think.  
:D **

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Chapter 17- Coming Clean**

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_**Brady**_

"This isn't your car." She stated, as she climbed in the passenger seat.

"Well spotted," I laughed, "I'm borrowing Lucas'. I didn't drive here so it presented a bit of a problem."

"Oh, is he the one you showed up with earlier?"

"That's him." I replied.

"Got it. So Lucas is the one my friends were drooling over." She smirked.

"Yeah, that's kinda no surprise, should he be worried?" I joked.

"Definitely." She replied, smiling.

"Hey, go to my place- Mom and Pete are in Seattle for the weekend."

After we arrived back to her place, which was, sure enough, deserted, we lay on their big leather sofa, as she flicked on the TV.

"Ugh, there's like, _nothing_ on, she said after flipping through about forty channels, and finally winding up back where she started, on some dumb teen drama movie that was playing.

"This movie sucks," she said, "I watched it with some friends a couple years ago- it's like fifty clichés on top of each other."

I laughed, "Okay, so what kind of movies do you like, anyway?" I asked, pulling her up against me, so that she was enveloped in my heat, her back to me.

"I dunno," she mumbled, " I like a bunch of different ones,"

"Yeah, but, do you have a favorite?"

"Uh, yeah, my favorite movie is Casablanca - you wouldn't have seen it, it's like _really_ old, but it's a classic, I cry like every time I watch it." She said, blushing.

I nodded, "Here's looking at you, kid,' right?" I said, chuckling.

She squirmed around to look at me, puzzled. "Aren't you just full of surprises."

"I watched it with…well, with my mom once"

She giggled, leaning up to kiss me.

"I really do love you, you know?" She said, as we broke apart.

"Yeah, I sort like you too, kid." I laughed.

"Nola, I can't even figure out how to tell you just how much I love you." I said, looking into her beautiful blue eyes, "I mean, I _adore_ you."

She just looked up at me, shaking her head softly, a small smile playing on her lips.

"You make me scared." She whispered.

What? The reaction must have played out on my face because she began to explain.

"I could love you forever, you know that? I mean, I _want_ to love you forever."

"So what's the problem?"

"Well, people say that love fades. You know, stuff happens, gets in the way. We don't know what's going to happen in the future, but I just… well, I just don't think this love _will_ fade. And as long as I feel like this…well, I can't live without you, Brady."

"I'm not going anywhere." I tried to assure her. It made me undeniably happy to hear her talk about how she felt about me, sure, but without her knowing about everything, I couldn't put her out of this worry. I couldn't explain that this was forever.

"You don't know that now." She said, sadly.

"Yes I do. This is it, Nola. This is what happiness feels like- and why would we ever want to stop being happy. I dunno how to put it, except that…you're it. You're right, our love's not going to fade- I'm going to feel this way for the rest of…well, forever. I just know it. I've never been more sure about anything, ever. I love you, Nola. It's for good, kid."

We didn't break our eye contact for what felt like a lifetime, before, finally, she grabbed my neck and pulled me down for our lips to meet, once again.

"You know," she said, as we broke apart, "for someone who thinks they're no good with words, those were some pretty great words."

_**Nola**_

A while later and we'd migrated up to my room.

Our shoes and his t-shirt lay forgotten on the living room floor, as we were now…otherwise occupied on my bed.

"_God, Nola" _he sighed, as I, from my position on top of him, began to roll my hips against his, creating amazing friction, as our mouths remained almost constantly connected.

He laced his hands up the back of my loose fitting shirt, heating my back with his large, warm palms as they trailed up and down.

I felt him pause reluctantly on the clasp of my bra, before he then trailed on further up.

"Take it off," I whispered against his lips.

This seemed to be the conformation he needed, as he skillfully undid the clasp.

His hands continued then, roaming down my back and around my front to my lower stomach.

I shuddered with the feeling of his hot hands as they snaked higher, and higher still, engulfing my now bare breasts, my nipples hardening immediately under the feel of his rough skin.

Suddenly, he had an arm around my back, and rolled us, so that he now hovered above me, using one arm to support his weight, while the other remained under my shirt, giving close attention to my right breast.

"Uh, _Brady" _I groaned into his mouth, as the tension in the pit of my stomach became unbearable.

After an amazing while, I broke away.

"Let's do it." I whispered, "Don't stop, I'm ready, let's not go slow anymore." I said excitedly, looking into his eyes as they darkened, so brown they were black.

And I was, I _was_ ready. Whenever I was around Brady, all I wanted was to be closer to him. The closer we got I only wanted to be closer still, and right now, there was nothing I wanted more.

He seemed to consider it for a moment, then let out a heavy sigh, before he surprised my by flopping off of me and onto his back beside me on the bed. He seemed defeated.

I rolled onto my side, starting at him in confusion.

He closed his eyes for what felt like forever, before opening them, and turning to face me.

"God, Nola, you have no idea how much I want you- not just now but all the god-damn time."

"Then why-" I started, before he cut me off.

"I can't, I _won't_ have sex with you tonight." He said, as though he was trying to tell him self, as much as he was me.

I couldn't really think of what to say. I felt confused and rejected- I just said nothing, staring at him.

"Look, you _have_ to believe that I want you, okay? God, I do. But I won't while there's so much you don't know."

"What?" I said in immediate reaction- what the hell did he mean, 'I don't know'.

"No- don't get me wrong, it's just, well- Nola, I have to tell you something."

_**Brady**_

I hadn't ever really made the conscious decision to tell her tonight, but when she started talking like that, I knew I couldn't let her give herself to me until she knew the truth.

This was too big a part of me to keep a secret from her any more. I had to tell her. Now.

The look on her face sent pain to my core- I hated that she looked so distressed: hurt, confused, and rejected. God, I had to make her feel good again. It was like that was my constant goal in life now, to make sure Nola was the happiest she could be. But ultimately, all I could think about was how terrified I was to tell her.

For starters, I had no idea how I was going to do it, but above all, I knew I couldn't bear it if she took it badly.

Not that I'd blame her, though. Fuck, I mean, how was she supposed to take it?

But, when it felt like torture when we were apart for a couple of hours, it pained me to even imagine what it could be like if she didn't want to be with me anymore.

But I had to do something, _now. _I couldn't let her lie there, feeling like that any longer.

"Um, I haven't told you everything about myself," I began, "I mean, I've left something out that I have to explain to you- and it's, well it's big."

Her perfect eyebrows pulled together,

"Um, okay," she replied.

"I think, well, I don't know how I'm going to explain it, but um, how much do you know about my tribe? I mean, have you heard much about the Quileute legends?"

"Um," she replied quietly, "not much, except for what I've picked up in school, I mean, they myth is that you're descendant from wolves, right?

I nodded, grateful she knew that much, at least.  
"yeah, and, well, I have to tell you that to some extent, the myths are true." She looked even more confused. "I don't think there's any good or right way to tell you this- but well, some of the supernatural stuff you probably always thought was fiction…well…it isn't."

I paused, trying to think of what the hell to say next, maybe I just had to come out with it.

"it's going to sound crazy, but well, vampires, and werewolves- they exist."

_**Nola**_

I just lay there, a mixture of shock and confusion running through my head.

If some one else was hearing this, I knew they'd think he was joking. It _did_ sound crazy, and I didn't know what to believe, but well, I knew he was serious.

The look on his face, the utter seriousness in his voice- well, I think I knew Brady well enough to know that whatever he was talking about, he was absolutely invested in it. He was not joking or being stupid or crazy. This was for real.

And it had me astounded.

"about 10 years ago," he continued, "One of my…friends, Sam Uley, he started to get really hot- temperature wise, I mean," he said, smirking, before the look of conflict took over his face again, "and he started to grow, really fast- like he developed muscles and got really tall, you know." He explained, as the significance of his words started to wash over me. I'd always wondered a little about Brady's heat- and his friends- the ones I'd met, I mean, and he were all of the same description, very tall, very muscular.

"So, after a while," he went on, "Sam learnt the truth. There had been some Vampires living in the area- and not like the mythological, Dracula-type ones you'd think of at first- to humans, well they pretty much seem like other humans. And, uh, the natural enemy to the vampire, is the werewolf." He said, raising his eyebrows as though compelling me to understand the significance of all of this.

"So, Sam, well one day, he phased." He said simply. "He turned into one, a werewolf, I mean.- remember the 'being-descendant- from- wolves- thing? Well, after Sam, it happened to a bunch more of us. We can transform into wolves, and we protect La Push." He stopped, allowing me time to try to process it all.

Obviously, I had no idea what to think and feel about the whole thing- to me, this kind of stuff just didn't exist. But I could tell, that to Brady, it did.

"I know you probably think I've lost it, but…well, I _am_ serious." He said after while.

I shook my head, "No…no, I mean, I believe you." I said weakly.

A little while later I said: "could I see?" I think I needed to see it to understand it, completely.

"um," he said, conflicted, "well, it's just- I can't…I don't have…full _control_ over myself when I'm in that form. I mean, I _ die _before I willingly hurt you Nola." He stopped and were silent for a while, as he though about it some more.

"Could you wait, until tomorrow? I could get Collin to come over, and he could be there with you, you know, in case…"

I didn't believe for a second that Brady could hurt me, but I really did want to see him change.

I nodded. "Tomorrow."

_**Brady**_

It was killing me to not know what she was thinking, how she was feeling.

I had no idea how anyone could be expected to take something like this.

Of course, I completely understood her need to see it, and as much as the though of her hurt killed me inside, to the point where I though I could never be responsible for it, Emily's face kept flashing in my mind.

I knew Sam had only been a wolf for a while when it happened, and I had developed a lot more control in the past 8 years, the though of Nola like that killed me.

But I think if I got Collin to come over it would be okay. At least then she could see it, and we could go from there. Plus, Jaime was the only other girl who'd gone through exactly what Nola was. All the other imprints were Native American girls, who'd grown up with that element of spirituality in their lives. Of course, it would have still been a shock, but I'm sure they would have found it a little easier to come around to the idea. Talking to Jamie might help.

"I'm sorry", I said after a while of more silence, "It's a hell of a lot to spring on you, but I mean you had to know. I love you so much, Nola. I want you to know everything about my life, because, well…I need you to be in my life."

She nodded, giving me a small smile, "Um, it's a lot to get used to…I don't really know when I will, but I have to try. Because I can't not be with you, Brady."

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	18. Amazing

**Hey guys, **

**Hope you're all still loving the story, **

**Keep those reviews coming.**

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Chapter 18- Amazing

_**Nola**_

"Just give me a sec," I said, jumping off the bed and going over to my dresser.

With my back to him, I threw off my shirt and bra- which was still just dangling from my shoulders- and put on an old t-shirt.

I pulled off my jeans and went back to the bed, sliding under the covers before gesturing for Brady to join me.

Once he was under, I waited for him to quickly envelope me, pulling me up against his body like he usually did, but when he stayed on the other side- what felt like miles away- I slid over and cozied up to him, myself.

I knew he expected me to be weird or at least, different now that I knew, but I meant what I'd said.

Of course, I was shocked, and was still confused as hell, but I knew that no matter what, I still wanted to be with him, above all.

So it would be stupid to let this change anything, because it would only hurt us both.

He seemed to lighten up a little with that, and wrapped his warm arms around me, my face burrowed into his chest. It wasn't like I was so simple that I hadn't ever noticed Brady's heat before. I mean, it was _pretty_ noticeable. But, it was honestly as though without ever even registering it, I'd always known there was something different about him. I guess that's why I could be so calm about everything when he told me. And now, I could feel myself coming to terms with things, more and more.

"So, how much of the stories are true? I mean is it the whole, full moon thing, or-"

He laughed. "Nah…there actually are those kinds of werewolves, though, apparently. But, well I mean we're not even real werewolves in that sense- just shape-shifters really. We can phase whenever we want, and we actually _can_ think straight while we're in that form, it's not like we become total animals or anything. It's just that we become a lot more…_animalistic_ in our reactions, I guess. We have a little less control- it can be easy to let your instincts get the better of you."

"So… how many of you are there?" I said, asking just one of about a hundred questions I wanted to know the answer to.

"Well, there's 17. But only 12 of us at the moment. Because Jake's in England, Carl and Nick moved up to Seattle, and don't phase at all anymore. Then there's Han, he's like "the smart wolf" he went off to Yale after only being in the pack for a couple years, and now he's a reporter for some newspaper in New Hampshire- we've hardly even seen him since he left, he was real determined to stop phasing, and hasn't for pretty much the whole time, as far as we know. Then Leah. She moved down to Oregon.-"

"She?" I asked, taken aback.

"Yeah, pretty much everyone was surprised that she was part of the pack. She isn't anymore though- she had a really hard time trying to stop, but now, she hasn't phased in years."

"So, it's hard, then- to stop?"

"Yeah. Well, phasing is pretty much triggered by anger. If we get angry about something, we have to work hard to cool off- it gets worse the longer it's been since you phased. From what I've heard, after long enough, like maybe a couple of years, you sort of break some sort of threshold or something, and it's not there as much anymore. You don't have to try as hard. But those first months are meant to be near-impossible."

"Did you ever…think about it?" I said, curious.

"Uh, not seriously- I mean until I…met you. I will someday, probably not for a few years yet, but, I don't know…when I'm like, thirty maybe. I mean, a few of the guys hated the reality of it. Hated…the lack of choice, I guess. It's literally like you're a teenage boy one day, and the next your life has been decided for you. But I never really resented it. I mean, I love La Push; it will always be my home. And being part of the pack has given me this huge, awesome family."

As I watched him talk about it, I could tell everything he was saying was the complete truth. You could really see the passion and love behind his eyes as he said it.

"So then, why would you ever stop, if it's what you love so much?"

"Because I wanna grow old with you."

I loved how he considered this as forever, and the way he seemed so sure of it.

"But what does that have to do with…"

"Oh…yeah, I guess I left that part out." He cut me off "as long as we're phasing, we don't age."

Wow. Okay, that was a surprise.  
"So you mean to tell me that if you kept phasing you'd just never get any older…you'd never…die?"

"No. Well, not of old age anyway. I've looked, more or less like this since I was a teenager, but one day I'll stop, and I'll start aging."

"Oh." I said stupidly. I think that would have to be my go-to reaction to a lot of this freaky- wolf stuff. It was a little hard to figure out how I felt about it.

That said, the prospect of eventual death was definitely not something I wanted to even think about when Brady was concerned- let alone talking about it. So I moved past it quickly.

"Hey guess what?" I said suddenly.

"What?"

"I get to wake up next to you tomorrow."

His face spread into a grin- a far better sight than the conflicted vent of emotions it had been for the past hour. "I've been missing that." He replied.  
"Me too."

And we lay there, quietly, before eventually drifting off in each other's arms.

_**Brady**_

Waking up with Nola there, still sleeping perfectly in my arms, was just one of those things I doubted I'd ever get used to.

I could have literally lain there all day just watching her; she was just so beautiful, so perfect.

After just a few moments, though, she stirred awake- I guess she'd only really been dozing so could sense my watching her.

She breathed in dramatically, her face erupting into her fantastic grin before her eyes were even open.

"Good morning" she whispered, opening them to look up at me.

"Good morning, yourself." I said.

"You were watching me sleep?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey," I said, "It's not my fault you're incredibly beautiful."

She then moved, running her hand casually down my torso, causing electric currents to ripple through my stomach and skin.

"God, I love you, Nola." I breathed, before grabbing her hips and pulling her into position on top of me.

She giggled adorably, before lowering herself to kiss me.

God. I knew it was important to take things relatively slow- I mean, we had the rest of our lives to be together, and she was young, the last thing I wanted was for her to rush into anything she might regret later.

But fuck.

In just some little cotton underwear and this tight t-shirt, she sure as hell did not make it easy.

"So," she said, as she trailed kisses down my chest and torso, "it's a...wolf thing then, having all these…muscles?"

"Yup," I smirked, "we have one hell of a growth spurt- I mean, we need them, we need to be strong."

"Yeah," she said, sitting up, straddling me and biting her bottom lip,

"Do you think they're…ah…necessary?" I teased.

"Well," she smirked, "they're a definite plus."

"Come back down here, anyway." I said, motioning her back down so that she was lying over me again.

Now as we kissed, my hands had the freedom to roam. The warm smoothness of her skin; her thighs, her hips, the curve of her waist, the amazing softness of her breast. I let my hands snake up her shirt and all over her, guided by the sounds of her gasps and sighs.

After a while, when things had gotten a little too hot and heavy, we stopped ourselves.

I rolled us so that I was now lying over her, my arms supporting my weight as she arched her body up to meet mine.

"We should stop." I said weakly.

"I hate that you're right." She groaned, flopping back down onto her back and rolling out from under me.

I lay there beside her for a moment, before she said, "Okay, I'm going to take a shower- and you dear, have a phone call to make." She said with a smile.

I didn't register at first, and gave her a puzzled look.

"You're getting Collin over, right? You better give him a call and tell him to come over here- and don't worry, mom and Pete said they'd be home late." She grinned, before turning and walking to the bathroom.

There it was. A reminder to pull me out of the morning's bliss.

I don't know why I felt this weird about it, but I couldn't get over how worried I was. I was dreading the thought of her being…I don't know, _scared_, I guess.

But it was something she needed to see, I'd expected it, and would just have to get over it and wait to see how everything played out.

By now it was around 10am, but given that it was Sunday, and Embry had had a party last night, it wasn't exactly a surprise to find that my phone call had woken Collin up.

"Uhh Hey, Man. What's up?" He said groggily after a few rings.

"Um, hey Col. So listen, I told Nola last night."

"You told her wha- Oh! You _told_ her! Wow, how'd she take it?" he said, sounding more awake with each word.

"Um, quite well actually."  
"Yeah? Fuck lucky you then, right? I mean Jaime totally _freaked."_

"Dude, Jaime found out first by _seeing you phase_ I don't blame her" I laughed,

"You make a good point."

"Okay, well anyway, speaking of seeing people phase- Nola wants to. Today."

"Shit, are you going to do it?" he said, serious again.

"Yeah, I mean, I understand, ya know? I think she's got to see it to fully believe it or whatever. But anyway, can you guys come over? I just want to have you here…incase…or something. And plus, Jaime might be someone good for her to talk to about everything."

"Uh, yeah sure, good idea. Okay, well, we'll see you in like…an hour? Where do you wanna meet?"

"Well, I stayed at hers last night- her parents are away. They've got a backyard that borders the woods, so just come over here."

_**Nola**_

"Okay, you ready?" I asked him, trying to sound normal. What exactly was the normal way to act, though, when you've just found out your boyfriend can transform on demand into a giant wolf? I wasn't exactly sure.

You know how people always talk about how when you're dealing with something, it can be a good idea to just sleep on it? Well, I'd always sort of considered that to be a pretty weak idea, but in this case, there was a lot to be said for it.

Last night, after he'd told me, I just felt shocked and conflicted. Almost like I couldn't or maybe didn't want to deal with it right away. But waking up this morning, it was like I'd been able to develop a bit more perspective, and was better used to the idea. I did still feel like I needed to see it happen, though. But this said, right now I was feeling this nagging nervousness. I had no idea what to expect really, I just hoped I could stay calm. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt Brady by freaking out.

"Yup, they should be here any minute." He said, joining me in the Kitchen, having just showered and put on the cut off sweats he'd been wearing last night.

"But, are you?" he asked me seriously. "It's gotta be freaking you out- is this still something you want to do?" he asked, walking towards me to put his hands on my shoulders.

I nodded, "I need to. I am…feeling a bit weird. But it's okay, it's going to be okay." I said, putting on a determined smile.

"Okay, just make sure you keep telling me how you're feeling. I don't want you keeping things bottled up- if you get scared or you can't handle something or whatever- let me know. I want to make you happy. And I'm not just talking about today." He said, sweetly.

"I thought guys were supposed to hate girls talking about their feelings" I joked.

He shook his head, smiling. "You're not "girls", you're Nola. And I want to know _everything_ about you."

"When did you get so cute?" I teased.

"It's a gift."

I put my arms around his neck, and leaned up to kiss him, getting a few seconds of heaven before he started to pull away.

"They're here."

I looked over his shoulder, out the kitchen window, "No they're not," I said, pulling him back down.

"Check again." He said.

And there they were. Just coming into view, and starting down our path was the very tall and bulky frame of Collin, with Jaime piggyback style on his back.

How did you-? I started, looking back to Brady.

He tapped his nose as he broke away. "Wolf thing" he said simply.

"Okay, now that's just freaky."

It's funny. Sometimes in life you get a sense that small moments are going to create something big. It's like, when you meet a person, and you barely know a thing about them, but you get a real sense that they'll mean a great deal to you someday.

Jaime was a person who made me feel like this.  
She was just so easy to get along with and relate to, that now, having only had a few conversations with her, I felt like we were becoming great friends. I guess it probably figures- I mean, Brady and Collin are so inseparable it's not really surprising they'd pick girls who got on.

After they arrived, we spent some time chatting for a while.

"It's huge, right? I mean, it's _a lot_ to take in." She said, getting down to business.

"Yeah. I still don't really know if I've come to terms with it all properly yet."

"Well, at least Brady got to tell you. Calmly and rationally. With me it was…well let's just say, a lot more of a shock."

"What happened?" I asked.

"Okay, so we hadn't been together that long- I don't know exactly, but definitely less than a month. And he brought me round to Paul and Rachel's place for a big pack lunch one day- at that point I'd only met the guys he lived with, Brady and Seth, so this was my first time seeing everyone. Well, things didn't exactly go…perfectly."

"Why?" I asked, engrossed.

"Um, obviously as it was my first time meeting everyone, I couldn't anticipate that it _wouldn't _be my first time meeting…_everyone."_

"Oh my god." I said as I realized.

"Yeah. Do you know Lucas?"

"Um, we haven't met, but I know the one."

"Well, see he's a cop in Forks, and that's where I'm from. A few years back we sort of…dated. And I use that term very loosely, if you know what I mean. It was only a couple times, but of course, when Collin found out, well, he totally flipped."

"Yeah, I can imagine," I said, "Brady completely freaked the one time another guy showed an interest in me."

"Yeah, they're pretty much all like that. Super-over protective. But it's sweet, I guess. Anyway, so upon learning of my history with Luke, well…he phased. Right there."

"Oh my god."

"I know, right?" she laughed. "Needless to say, it took a while for me to get used to the whole thing."

"So what are things like now, with Lucas and Collin, I mean?"

"Um, I mean, they're as normal as they can be in the situation, I suppose. Lucas and I are both of the same thinking about it- it completely meant nothing. It's just Col who worked it up in his head. But now he just sort of tries to forget it, I think."

"So, are you two ready?" Brady asked, as they came inside to find us.

"Uh huh." I replied. After talking the whole thing over with Jaime, I felt like she was right. I did have the advantage of having been told in a calm way. I was doing this on my own terms. I was ready.

We all made to walk outside together. At the door, Brady stopped me, grabbing my wrist and pulling me to him.

Against his warm, bare chest, everything felt a thousand times better.

He gave me one slow, sweet kiss, taking my bottom lip between his two, and making my legs tremble.

"I love you." He said simply as we broke apart, and then he held my hand to walk outside.

I stood next to Jaime and Collin in my backyard. It wasn't huge, but it was a decent space, and towards the end of it it merged into the woods. The whole area was mostly bordered with tall trees anyway, so it was a good place for it- out in the open but without the chance of anybody seeing.

Giving me one last smile, Brady walked away to the far end of the property, and then turned to face us again.

It happened faster than I'd imagined. And I _had_ imagined it. All morning I'd been trying to picture what it would be like- trying to give the whole thing more of a sense of reality. But this was all the reality I needed.

He stood there, in his perfect form. His deep tan and amazing body, wearing nothing but his short navy blue sweats; he took my breath away. And then suddenly, he was changing. Faster than my eyes could really register, he seemed to sort of, jump out of himself, while all of a sudden, he was huge. This massive, chocolate brown wolf standing in my back yard.  
Of course it's impossible to know, but I think that even if I hadn't already known the secret, I'd have questioned the fact that this was all animal. The way he stood, there was still some kind of inherent personality to him. He seemed cautious, reluctant to move. He was waiting there, waiting to see what I'd do next.

"Can I…?" I mumbled to Collin, without taking my eyes off of Brady.

"Sure." He said encouragingly.

Slowly I walked towards him.

His fur reminded me perfectly of Brady's hair. It was this rich, dark brown, that was so pure, there was almost no variation in it. No highlights or lowlights, no streaks or flecks of anything different.

And then, the closer I got, I started to notice the best part. The part that made all my doubt or confusion or disbelief disappear. There they were: Brady's eyes. Those eyes, which I could look at one moment and see a warm brown, and the next they'd be so dark they were black. The way that his eyes looked at me, their ability to convey Brady's love so openly and obviously they drove me to blush, was something I could recognize anywhere. This was my Brady; right here. It was really him.

By now I had walked right up to him.

He hadn't moved at all, he just stood, on all fours, waiting for me. As soon as I'd looked into his eyes my apprehension seemed to disappear. I tried to gesture for him to lower himself, and slowly, he did.

He brought himself down to lie on the ground in front of me.

And now, I took my hands, and touched his enormous head. I stroked down his nose and behind his ears and down his back. It was probably the weirdest thing I'd ever done. But it was great. Because it was Brady.

After a short while, I stepped back. Collin jogged over and handed him something, putting what looked like a balled up pair of shorts into his mouth, before Brady walked backwards into the woods and out of sight.

_**Brady**_

I don't know exactly what I had been expecting- but I definitely hadn't envisioned it going this well.

The whole time I'd been watching her face intently, trying as hard as I could to decipher her thoughts and feelings. And as far as I could tell, they were all positive.  
I can't really explain it without sounding like some sort of sappy tool, but it was really like some sort of close, intimate moment. I felt incredible; like I was finally assured that she was going to be okay with everything. And now more than ever, I was counting myself lucky that she was mine. I couldn't believe that I'd be able to spend my life with her.

Back in the woods, I phased back and threw on the replacement shorts Collin had brought over, before walking back out to meet them again.

As soon as I came into view, Nola ran up to me.

I was caught off guard when she didn't stop, jumping up and throwing her arms around my neck. Supporting her weight, I held her to me, breathing the intoxicating scent of her cornhusk hair.

"I love you." She whispered into my neck.

Yup, everything was going to be okay.

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**Review please!! :)**


	19. Don't Wanna Miss a Thing

**Hey guys, **

**so, so sorry about the incredibly slow update. As you probably guessed the holiday's over now, so it's back to school and a whole lotta work for me. Which, unfortunately, means a lot less time to write. But, as usual I will endeavor to write whenever I can. But reviews are a definite incentive, so keep them coming!**

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Chapter 19- Don't Wanna Miss a Thing**

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Nola**_

"So how long did your mom say she'd be?" Brady asked, after I put the phone down.

"Um, they plan to leave at like, 4 so I guess around 7 or 8."

Collin and Jaime had left a little while ago, and we'd since wound up in the Kitchen trying to find something to have for lunch.

"Yeah, there's like…nothing here." I said finally. "You want to just order a pizza or something?"

"Sure," he said, smiling at me from the barstool on the opposite side of the counter. "I'll call."

Now that I was getting used to the whole wolf thing, I was keen to know everything about it. So for a good part of the afternoon, Brady and I sat in my Kitchen, as he answered my continuous questions.

The whole vampire thing was a little hard to rationalize. I just couldn't seem to get past the idea of these Dracula types in black cloaks, who could be warded off with garlic or a crucifix.

But what really did hit home was when he talked about the wars and battles he'd fought in. Granted, the last big event had been like 7 years ago, but still, the idea of Brady in a situation like that was something that horrified me. I couldn't even comprehend the idea of him getting hurt.

"But, hey, since the Cullens left, there's been very little cause for any vamps to come here anymore. I mean, we get them occasionally, but never more than one or two- and trust me, we can take them. Easy."

I shook my head, "But what if-"

"Nola, let me show you something." He cut me off, climbing off his seat and walking towards the kitchen drawers, retrieving a carving knife.

"Look." He said, and touched the knife to the top of his left arm.

"Don't!" I gasped, as he dragged it along his flesh, creating a cut that was a couplefew of inches long.  
I looked into his eyes in disbelief- what the hell was this about?

"Just look." He said, calmly.

When I looked back at what had just been a line of glistening deep red blood, I found that it had gone. In its place was the same cut, now a pinkish color, like a line of scar tissue- as though the cut was a few days old?  
And then, right before my eyes, just a few moments later, it had faded into nothing.

I curiously stroked the spot where it had been, expecting to still feel at least some kind of difference there. But: nothing.

"We heal fast- really fast. It's just another one of those wolf things that helps us to be…you know, awesome." He laughed. "So you see? We are made to do what we do. We can more than hold our own, okay? Nothing to worry about." He said simply.

I couldn't let my worries go completely, of course. But he was right; it did help to find out things like that.

"Okay- but don't go doing that again!"

He chuckled, wrapping his arms around me. "Okay."

If the first half of the afternoon was spent talking, the second was spent…not talking.

Brady and I had once again made it up to my room, where he lay over me on my still unmade bed.

The tension between us was constantly building, as he moved his mouth away from mine, to leave frantic kisses up and down my neck.

He then continued on, blazing a trail from my throat down my chest and stomach, until he was kissing and caressing what felt like every inch of skin on my torso.

By now I'd realized how dramatically I was arching my back up and off the bed, constantly craving closeness.

And then he was back again, his hot mouth on my own, he took my lip between his, sucking lightly and making me whimper. I laced my fingers through his hair, pulling him down further, deepening the kiss and feeling his tongue enter my mouth.

And then his free arm was roaming again, down my body, caressing my breasts, waist and thighs. I hooked my legs together around him, bringing his body closer still, now fully enveloped in his overwhelming heat.

It was a warm day, and I was in a short skirt; my legs bare. His hands on them were electric, forcing the tension in my body to build and build as he brought them higher and higher, until they snaked under my skirt. He groaned into my mouth as he kneaded the flesh of my butt. Suddenly, his thumb caught the edge of my underwear.

"Nola," he whispered seriously, pulling his face away to look into my eyes.

His own eyes were at their darkest, as he gave me the look which ignited further fire in me. "Don't stop." I whispered in reply.

Pushing aside my cotton panties, I felt his hand, large, hot and deliberate, as it reached my most sensitive of spots.

The _touch, _the _sensation _of his movements had me reeling- my every nerve on end.

I was sent gasping into his neck, as his fingers expertly continued on.

And then suddenly, he had slipped one large, warm finger inside of me. It was then joined by a second. I had to stop myself from pushing into his hand as he went on, slowly retracting and replacing them, before he began to curl his fingers inside me.

"Uh! Brady!" I gasped at the sudden change, feeling myself building.

"Fuck." He said suddenly. "Fuck. Sorry-" he said as he began to pull out.

"No, don't-" I all but whimpered.

"Babe, your parents are home." He said, defeated, quickly getting off of me and sitting up on the bed.

Oh my god.

"Shit! They're early." I said, coming right down from my high and trying to fix myself. Looking out the window I could see that their car was just pulling up outside.

I looked back to Brady. "Shit, where's your shirt?" I panicked.

"Uhh...Fuck. Couch." He said- reminding me that it would be, no doubt, exactly where we'd left it last night.

"Okay, shit. Um, come on then." I said, watching out the window as Pete and My mom started to get their bags out of the car.

"You get it- just…give me a minute." He said. Looking back at him, I realized he was right- him talking to my mom in his current…state: not such a good idea.

I sprinted as fast as I could to the living room, retrieved his shirt, and ran back upstairs, right before I heard them open the front door.

"Hey, we're home." My mom called out.

Brady met me in the upstairs hallway, pulling the tight white t-shirt over his head before we tried to appear calm, walking down the stairs.

"Hey, guys." I said, trying to act as casual as possible as we both entered the kitchen.

"Hey sweetie, how was your- oh, hi, Brady. How are you?" Mom said, a mixture between startled and friendly.

"Yeah, great thanks, what about you? How was your weekend?" He asked.

And the two of them continued chatting away warmly.

God, what a freaking close call. I can't imagine my mortification if they'd came inside before we'd realized. These wolf-senses of Brady's were most definitely going to come in handy.

_**Brady**_

Thankfully, Nola's mom seemed pretty much cool about the fact that Nola and I had been in the house alone- if anything, she seemed a little amused about the whole thing.

I ended up getting invited to stay for dinner, which was great. I hated being away from Nola anyway, especially with the knowledge that tomorrow marked the beginning of another week of falsities around everyone at school. And plus, it was cool to spend a bit of time with their family- they seemed comfortable with having me around, which was really great.

"Well it was great to see you Brady," Paula said, at the end of the night.

"Yeah, you too. Thanks for dinner."

"Oh, don't mention it," she replied, "besidesBesides, it's great to know there's someone here looking after this one, when we're not." She said with a smirk.

Nola walked me out.

"Oh my god." She laughed as we got the end of the path, "Thank god for your crazy wolf-senses."

I laughed, "It was definitely a close one."

"So tomorrow…" she started with a sigh.

"Yup."

"God, this sucks." She whispered, as I pulled her in close.

I nodded, "But come over to mine tomorrow night, okay?"

"Yeah." She agreed, smiling, "something to look forward to, right?"

"Absolutely." I said, before I leant down to give her the long, lingering kiss, which would have to see us through.

"So when you say "everyone" do you literally mean _everyone?_"

Nola asked, emerging from her bathroom, and charging around her room in a frantic fit of getting ready.

"Hey," I said, getting up of the bed and grabbing her, holding her still, "relax, okay? Everyone's really laid back- and, come on, they're going to love you."

It had been a little over two weeks since she found out about the pack, and things had been going great. That is, as great as they could while we were still forced to hide our relationship the majority of the time.

As usual, I could feel her relax in my arms.

She nodded weakly, "okay," she said putting on a nervous smile, "it'll be okay." She told herself.

She then broke away from me, searching through her closet trying to choose a pair of shoes.

"Besides, there's pretty much no way you can't come- everyone's dying to meet you. The girls have practically yelled it at me every time I've seen them in the past two weeks."

Today was the five-year wedding anniversary for Jared and Kim, so Emily was throwing them a party at her place. The whole pack would be there- kids and all, and I was using it as an opportunity for everyone to finally meet Nola.

At this point, she'd still only met Collin, Jaime, Ozzy and Seth, and I'd been nagged at for days about letting the all the wolf girls meet her.

"Okay. Ready." She announced a few moments later.

I sighed, "youYou look incredible."

She blushed, "well thank you." She smirked, "but I'm justonly wearing jeans and a top."

I shook my head, "you always look incredible." I said, which was followed by another blush.

I pulled her in, giving her a fleeting kiss before taking her hand to walk out.

I could tell she still hadn't gotten over her nerves though. On the way to the Uley's she was practically silent. Sure, their place was only a few minutes away in the car, but with us there never seemed to be a problem with conversation.

I understood though. Shit, if it were reversed, and her family was as big and full-on as mine, I'd be freaking out about having to meet them all- especially all at once like this. But I loved pack gatherings, and I think that's when you see us all at our best, so I wanted Nola to meet everyone this way.

There was of course, the added factor of the 'wolf-thing'.

I was pretty sure she was well on her way to being used to the whole thing- well, as used to it as you could be, I guess.

Since she'd found out, we'd talked about it a lot. She wanted to know everything, so I answered her questions more than willingly. And plus, she'd been talking to Jaime a lot, too. We'd spent two or three nights over at mine, or round at there's, having dinner and hanging out with her and Col, and the other day, Jaime and Nola had even got together without us.

Col and I had patrol, so Nola went over to there place and had a sort of "girl's night" or whatever, with Jaime last Saturday. It was cool that they were getting to be close, and I loved to see Nola fitting in so well with everyone. It would always make me think about us spending our lives here, together. I sound like a total sap, but it's an awesome thought.

That's why, although I hated that she felt bad now, I was actually quite excited about tonight. I was just eager for her to really become a permanent part of the pack.

Speaking of which, there was still one thing nagging on my mind; the imprint.

Of all the questions I'd answered for Nola, that was about the only thing she hadn't been filled in on.

No matter how hard I tried to get my head around it, I just could not think of how to tell her. At first I thought it wouldn't be a problem at all. But then I remembered back when some of the guys had imprinted, telling them often seemed to be an issue.

I just knew I wasn't the best at explaining stuff, and I didn't want to screw it up and give her the wrong idea- like make her think the imprint was like, _forcing_ me to love her or something. To me, that idea sounds ridiculous, but that's what caused a huge blow up when Mathew told Sarah about it, and I could see how that could happen.

I pushed it to the back of my mind, something I'd been doing a lot lately, putting it off for another time. I knew I'd have to tell her, and soon, but I just couldn't figure out the words.

_**Nola**_

As we arrived at the party I couldn't get past this intense nervous feeling I had.

It just seemed like such a big deal- to be finally meeting everyone I'd heard so much about.

Brady held my hand, completely covering it with his huge, warm one as usual, and kept my body close to his as we walked in.

To my great relief, we opened the door to find that there were only a few people already here.

"Well, well, this it'd be a first- Brady shows up early!" Called a russet skinned woman with shiny black hair and a wide smile, as she got up from her seat to greet us.

"Absolutely, aren't you always the one to show up _after_ all the work is done?" added the woman with equally dark skin as the first, and a shoulder length chocolate brown bob haircut.

"Hey, hey! I've been known to help out on occasion," Brady defended himself from beside me.

"On very rare occasion," the black haired woman rolled her eyes, smiling at me.

"I'm Kim." She said, now standing in front of me. "Finally this one lets us meet you!" she teased Brady again, before surprising me by pulling me into a hug.

"Happy anniversary." I said as she let me go.

"Oh, thanks honey, Jared's around here somewhere- out the back with Sam and Matthew, I think."

"I'm Sarah," the woman next to Kim smiled as I met her eye, "Mathew's my husband- and we've got Buckley, who's no-doubt wherever Matthew is."

"And you checked on him?" Another young woman entered the room from out of a door on the far left, talking frantically into the phone, her shiny black hair falling over her face.

"And you're sure you remembered to give him the _blue_ bear to go to sleep with?"

"Okay, okay, but did you-".

"Uh! She hung up on me!" she said, looking up at us, befuddled. Just then, I got a real look at her face and knew immediately that this was Emily.

Feeling myself jolt at the first sight of her, I kicked myself internally. Brady had explained to me what had happened years ago between Emily and Sam, and how she now carried the awful scars, but nothing really came close to seeing it for yourself. It was just so clear that Emily was such a beautiful person, and the red scar which lined one half of her face just seemed so angry. A direct contrast to the sweet, innocent and animated expression you got from the rest of her face.

"Well shit. I would have hung up on you too, I can't even believe she let you go on that long." Kim said bluntly from beside me.

"Em, that was your fourth call, everything is fine."

Emily nodded, visibly reassuring herself, and then, composed, turned to me.

"I'm sorry, Nola, I hadn't even realized you'd arrived." She said, smiling, apologetically. "I'm Emily. I've just been a little…stressed out. My youngest is at my mothers for the weekend- he's not yet a year old, and this is the first time I've spent away from him so I'm you know…"

"Going a little crazy?" Kim offered.

Emily smirked. "Anyway, it's great to meet you, finally."

And I could honestly say the same. For the next couple of hours, as more and more people started to arrive, and the men began to progress in and out from outdoors- mostly due to their impatience for dinner to be served, I expected- I met and chatted to pretty much everyone. They were all a great bunch of people.

For the most part, I was having a great time, feeling included in the little buzzing group that were the "wolf girls", as they'd dubbed themselves. Emily, Kim, Sarah, Jaime and I chatted and helped get the food ready, and it was just really comfortable and easy.

It wasn't at all hard to forget that I'd only just met most of them.

"Aww, Em, come on- it's really not like you to forget- but I'll remind you anyway- there's a bunch of wolves out there and we tend to get a little hungry…" Seth wined, hanging around the kitchen where us girls were seated around the table- with the added addition of Blaine, one of Kim's adorable little twin boys who now sat peacefully on her lap. Barely making a sound in the forty minutes he'd been there, he just sat, happily quiet.

"Seth, you know who we're waiting on- just get outside and make sure everything's set, and we'll eat when we can eat, okay?" Kim lay down, firmly.

It was a clear night, which was lucky, because I had no idea how we would have managed to get everybody around a table indoors- but the guys had got onto setting up a long dining table outside, with various chairs placed around it, ready for the chaos.

"So, who are we waiting for, anyway?" I asked, after Seth retreated outside.

"Oh, it's Paul and Rach. She's going on maternity leave soon- so has a lot of extra work to do- you know, loose ends to tie up or whatever," Sarah explained, "not to mention the fact that she's about as big as a house, which is bound to make punctuality a problem- but you'd know that, right?"

And just as she said it I remembered. Brady had told me that my English teacher, who I knew as Ms. Warren, was actually married to a member of the pack. I'd felt quite awkward about it, knowing that she knew who I was and that Brady and I were together. I'd never talked to her about anything non-school related before, so it would definitely be a little weird to see her tonight. But, like everyone else here, she was young and had always been a casual type of person, so it couldn't be too bad.

Just then in a weird speak-of-the-devil kind of moment,

"We're here!" boomed a loud, deep voice.

Into the kitchen strolled yet another six foot wall of muscle, who seemed to be attached at the hip to Ms. Warren. To me she looked like she was maybe in her mid to late twenties, and I had always found her very pretty, with her long, wavy black hair and dark black eyes.

Undeniably, Sarah's earlier comment was completely justified- she was heavily pregnant, and really glowing. I know it sounds like a cliché, but it was true.

"Hey everyone, sorry we took so long- I didn't make it home from the school until about a half hour ago- Oh, hey, Nola, how are you?" she said, a little out of breath.

"Oh, I'm great, thanks, Ms-"

"Oh, just call me Rachel from now on," she laughed, "besides, I'm not your teacher anymore anyway, really. I come in on Monday to meet with my replacement one last time, and then I'm out of there."

"And about time, too- look at you, another few weeks and the thing'll just fall out during your lesson." Jaime joked.

"Oh, god, I know- the doctor says she can't believe it's my first and I'm carrying this heavy, this early. To look at me, you'd swear I was ready to give birth any day. I can't believe I've got to get through another two months."

"Shit, try carrying this little guy and his kick-a lot- brother through August. Now _that_ was insane." Kim said, gesturing to Blaine on her knee.

"Oh, I remember, Emily sympathized, you could barely get through a door way- and that was that summer we had all those crazy-hot days, right?"

"Absolutely, it was like living in fucking California for two weeks- and there I am lying around like a beached whale." She shuddered at the memory.

"Babe, I'm not about to give birth right here. Go out and see the guys." Rachel said, turning to Paul, whose hands were on her shoulders as she now sat down. He seemed extremely reluctant to leave her side.

"But-" he started.

"Seriously, Paul, go- I'm fine." She asserted strongly.

"Yeah, Paul- go make sure the guys have everything ready out there, and then we can start bringing the food out." Sarah added.

"You guys were not wrong when you talked about the over-protectiveness kicking into over-drive when you're pregnant. I'm surprised he hasn't been coming into work with me these last couple of weeks." Rachel said after he finally left.

"Tell me about it, if it'd been Sam's way, I would have been on total bed rest for nine months." Added Emily.

"But seriously, you've got _two more_?" Jaime asked, looking at Rachel in disbelief.

"Ah, I know, right? I was crossing my fingers for a little girl- but by the looks of things I'm growing a wolf in here for sure."

Not too long after that and we gave in to the whining wolves and wolf-kids who were all dying to eat.

Everyone convened outside around the massive spread. Emily had created an absolute feast, which was probably appropriate, considering each of the guys could probably put away a family size dinner and still be hungry.

Sitting there at the table, witnessing and being a part of all the banter, was just so comfortable and easy. I'd always been used to having just a few people around at home, but a big extended family like this was truly great. There were the adorable kids, Avis, Buckley and Jared and Kim's twins- who seemed to be polar opposites. Blaine, who was quiet and peaceful, and Sebastian who seemed to be a force of nature. Then there were the girls, who'd made me feel totally welcome and a part of their little circle. As well as, of course, all the guys, constantly teasing and taunting each other, but all clearly just having a great time being around each other.

After we'd eaten, were stuffed full of desert, and had a couple of brief speeches from Emily and then Jared, the night was really getting on, and it had become pretty cold out the there. Leaving the guys to the clearing up, we made our way indoors, sitting in the living room to talk, while the moms watched their kids playing around us.

"Nowla?" Buckley approached me excitedly. We'd been introduced earlier and he'd barely left my sight lines ever since. He was too cute. A spitting image of his father, with the same dark green eyes, the same russet skin, the same dark black hair, fashioned in the same close cropped hair cut. Not to mention the fact that he barely left his father's side and looked up at him with a kind of hero-worship adoration.

"Yeah, sweetie?" I replied as he stood next to where I sat on the end of one of the two large, soft sofas.

"Um, you can be my girlfriend, because everyone else has a girlfriend and so you can be mine." He said quickly, stating the fact.

"Hey!" said Brady, who was just coming through with an armful of dishes, "Buck, is this you trying to move in on my girl?" he said seriously, squatting to Buckley's level.

"Well," I said "I sort of am already with Brady," I said, screwing up my nose, and looking between the two of them, "but you know, Buckley," I said in a low voice, "I think you're…much cuter than he is, anyway"

Brady gave a scandalized gasp, causing Buckley to erupt in a fit of giggles, before he furrowed his brow again. "But that means I don't have a girlfriend."

"But not everyone has a girlfriend all the time," Emily assured him

"My daddy has a girlfriend- that's my momma," he added, looking back to me to let me know. "And Jared, and Paul, and Sam and-"

"But Tai doesn't have a girlfriend," Sarah started-

"Yes, yes, momma Tai does because he was kissing with a girl at daddy's store and when people do kissing that means they are girlfriends with each other."

"Well, what about Seth? And Embry? And Lucas?" She tried.

"Well I'm four and Avis is four and she says that she is Ozzy's girlfriend." He went on.

"Well…." Sarah seemed to search for the answer, "Um…I'll bet your daddy didn't have a girlfriend when he was four." She said, looking relieved as Buckley's face lit up at this new development and he scuttled off as suddenly as he'd come over, caught up in some new thought process.

"God, Sarah, he is adorable." I said.

"Yeah, he's pretty cool." She gushed, "just keep these moments in mind the next time Matthew and I need someone to babysit." She joked.

"Hey Em," Ozzy said, coming into the living room a while later with a sleeping Avis in his arms. "She's out to the world- shall I go put her down?" he asked, not taking his eyes off Avis' sleeping face. He looked at her like she was the most precious thing he'd ever seen, it was sweet to watch.

"That'd be great, thanks, Oz." Emily answered.

"He's always helping out with her, right?" I asked, "It's so sweet to see him with her."

"I know, right?" Sarah added, "I mean, it's one thing that the guys are so protective of us now, but when their imprints are so young, they're just so sweet with them."

What she said had me confused. What was the word she used? "imprint"?

Suddenly, Sarah seemed to become aware that she'd done something wrong, because she sat back in her chair and looked as though she wanted nothing more than for it to swallow her up. The other girls exchanged frantic knowing looks, leaving me sitting in puzzled silence.

What the hell was going on?

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**REVIEW TIME!!**


	20. No Ordinary Thing

**Hey Everyone**

**I hope you're all still enjoying the story, **

**as always, be sure to let me know what you think of the chapter. :)**

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Chapter 20- No Ordinary Thing

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_**Brady**_

"Shit, Brady man, you need to get inside." Jared said to me, a look on his face that told me he was definitely serious.

"What"- I began before he cut me off.  
"Uh, someone let something about "imprints" slip, and Nola's…well, she's confused. No one knows what to tell her. Get in there dude."

Fuck. I should have known leaving it this late was just risky and idiotic. I'd made sure the guys knew to tell the girls Nola didn't know everything yet. But I couldn't blame one of them for letting it slip, it was my fault for being such a fucking douche and not telling Nola straight away.

I rushed inside to find Nola, looking very uncomfortable and puzzled, while the girls fumbled over words, trying to think of something to say.

"Brady." She said, relieved as she saw me. "What's going on?" I couldn't think of what to say. I just had to sit her down and explain everything. But this was not the place to do it.

"Um…" I mumbled, searching for some words. "I think…well, should we go? I'll explain everything back at my place."

"Okay," she reluctantly agreed, frowning in confusion.

"Thanks for everything, Emily," she said politely, "and it was great to meet all of you." She added to the rest of the girls, who all exchanged awkward smiles.

"Brady," Sarah said, grabbing my arm as I turned to follow Nola out, "I'm so sor-"

"Don't worry about it Sarah- my fault." I mumbled, before quickly walking out to the car.

We rode the quick drive to my house in silence. I felt like utter shit, making her wonder like this. But the truth was, I was fucking scared.

Nola was the only thing in my life I couldn't stand to lose. If this fucked things up somehow…well, I don't know what I'd do.

Back at mine, we walked slowly and silently up the stairs and into the living room, where we sat down on my couch.

I sighed, closing my eyes, trying to find the words, as she just sat there, staring at me.

After a few moments, she spoke.

"Um…could you just tell me…I mean, what… what's the big deal about all of this? I heard…well, Sarah used the word "imprint" and then, everyone sort of freaked out." She said in a weak voice.

She was scared. God I was shit. Such fucking shit for making her feel this way.

"Uh…" I began, "what did she say…exactly?"

"Well, she just said something about how you guys all were with your _imprints_, or something, I thought it was weird, but then everyone started looking at me strange, and Sarah kept apologizing and…"

I shook my head, trying to calm her down, grabbing her hands between mine and shuffling closer on the couch.

"Nola, I have to explain something. Something…else." I said, never taking my eyes off her face. "I didn't tell you this before, and well, I should have, but I just…I just got scared that it would make things weird between us…or screw things up or something."

"What is it?" she said, the look on her face becoming pained with worry.

"well, you know how Sarah said "imprint"?" I asked, continuing as she nodded, "well, it has to do with another of our tribal myths. I mean, at least we thought it was a myth. You see, it's like when- I mean, after he's phased, um, for the first time I mean, not when he's an actual wolf- fuck I'm shit at this." I couldn't seem to figure out the words properly. I had to explain it right.

"Um, just try." She said weakly, trying to force a small smile.

I had to go on. "well, after a wolf's become a wolf, the first time he sees…the girl he's supposed to be with…well something happens. It's called imprinting, and it's like there's a… like a shift."

"A shift?"

"Yeah, well, it's like everything changes. Your whole world changes. Like you know that you've found the person who's…well, who's everything. Nothing else comes close anymore. That person…she's the most important thing."

"So…then, Avis…is the girl that Ozzy's supposed to be with then?"

"No- well, yeah. But it's not like that. Sometimes, when a wolf imprints, they just happen to be younger. It's not, like, creepy or anything. Ozzy sees Avis as like, his little…best friend. He loves her more than anyone, and he'll always be there. Maybe, when she's older, they'll see each other differently, but for now that's how it is."

"Wh-Why didn't you want me to know about this?" she stuttered.

"I'm sorry. I just…I guess I didn't want to change things with us."

To my horror, I saw that tears formed in her beautiful icy blue eyes. I felt pain. Actual pain in the very core of me. How could I have caused her to cry?

"Nola, don't-"

"God, Brady." She said, her voice catching, "of course this changes things with us. What am I supposed to say? I love you." She said, now raising her voice against the tears that streamed down her face and gasps that threatened to escape. "I love you and you…" she said, shuffling closer and grabbing at my shirt, "you could just…you could…"

I had no idea what to do. My insides were searing at the sight and sound of her like this. I couldn't take it. I couldn't stand to be the cause of it all. But I had no idea how to make it better. It was my turn to be confused. I had no idea that this could be her reaction.

"I don't…" I started, "I guess I don't…know why you're so upset, Nola. I just…"

"You don't know why I'm…?" she exclaimed, "Brady, I can't, I can't lose you." She cried, shaking her head.

"But why-" I started.

"Any day. Any day, Brady, you could just look at someone and then…then it'd all be over. You'd know they were 'the one'. How am I supposed to react to that kind of information?"

What? She didn't know? How could she not know?

"Nola stop!" I said firmly, pulling her properly into my arms, needing to grab her, to protect her and ease her from how distressed she was. "Nola, don't you see?" I said into her neck. "It's you. I already imprinted. On you."

She seemed to relax. After a moment, she pulled away, looking into my eyes. Her tear-stained face was blank, expressionless. Suddenly, she placed her hands on the sides of my face,

"Me?" she whispered.

"Who else?" I smiled, "Nola, it's only you. And it's only ever going to be you. We're made for each other, do you understand?" I placed my hand on her chest, on her heart. "Don't you feel it? The connection?"

She closed her eyes, sighing deeply. When she opened them, I saw that she was crying again, but this time was different. She was smiling. She was happy.

"I thought I was going crazy." She whispered, before she lunged forward, taking me by surprise as her lips found mine.

_**Nola**_

After the night I'd had, I was a wreck.

I felt like I'd experienced a hundred different emotions in the course of one evening, and I was exhausted.

I don't know why I'd been so reluctant to believe Brady had imprinted on me. The whole concept all together was something I was having a hard time getting my head around. And I knew that I loved Brady more than anything, so the fact that we were like, soul mates or whatever, shouldn't have been so hard to believe. But I just couldn't fathom it. How am I this lucky?

It's hard to believe that if mom had never met Pete, or if he hadn't made the decision to come home to La Push, Brady and I probably never would have met.

But I really did feel like this was fate.

Brady and I lay together on his bed, me in his arms. And just slept like that.

I was grateful for the rest, and woke the next day feeling unbelievable.

The more I got used to the idea of the imprint, the concept that Brady and I were to be connected to each other forever, I felt incredible.

In the scheme of things, I knew we hadn't really known each other for a very long time, but I felt like if he was with me, I could handle anything. The thought of us spending our lives together, well, it was perfection.

He was still asleep when I woke. Turning to face him, I could see he was completely out to it. Sleeping with this goofy smile on his face that made me want to just squeeze in closer to him. But I wanted to let him sleep, so carefully I got up off the bed and walked silently into the bathroom.

I showered and redressed, allowing myself to think all the thoughts I'd been too scared to think all this time.

I didn't want to let myself imagine a future with Brady, because it made me too terrified of the possibility that things could one day end.

But now, I felt like I had some kind of reassurance. I could feel confident that he was in my future. He _was_ my future.

I let myself imagine us seeing the world together. Let myself think about white dresses and bulging bellies, and dark skinned children. I couldn't wait.

After I was done I quietly walked into the kitchen, deciding to make breakfast. I was up early enough and was an alright cook, so I thought I may as well make myself useful.  
I didn't know if the other guys stayed here last night, neither of them were awake anyhow, but I assumed they were here and got out more than enough ingredients for everyone.

I figured that was a safe bet, considering it wasn't like anything ever went to waste around here anyways. If there was too much food, someone would just have seconds.

I made a massive portion of scrambled eggs, and did some French toast as well, considering there was no bacon, that would have to do. It was just getting under way when Ozzy emerged, groggily from his room.

"Woah, you can stay." He said.

"Thanks," I laughed.

He quickly went back into his room, coming out again pulling a cotton t-shirt over his head, before coming over and sitting at one of the high barstools on the other side of the counter.

"So you and Brady are…all good and everything?" he asked.

"Yup." I replied, "he explained the whole imprinting thing to me."

Ozzy nodded. "It's pretty great, really." He said.

"So," I started, deciding to be bold, "you don't have any other girlfriends or anything?"

He shook his head.

"Sorry, that was rude, I shouldn't have asked." I said, embarrassed.

"Rude? Hey, no one gives a crap about courtesy in this pack, babe. Don't mention it. Honestly, Avis is everything. I don' t really think about any of that other stuff. I mean, I know it sounds hard to believe- the guys had a hard time believing it. Until they saw inside mine and Quil's heads that is."

"Quil…has an imprint too then?"

"Oh, yeah, he's got Claire, she's 11 now, but was 2 when he imprinted."

"Wow, so…hold on, all the couples in the pack…are they.."

"Yup, pretty much. Paul and Rach, Sam and Emily, Matt and Sarah, Nick and Carrie- oh and Jaime and Col, as well. Oh, yeah, and Jake and Nessie- but you wouldn't have met them yet-cause they-"

"Live in Europe, right." I finished. "Oh." I said, surprised. "So, even Jaime and Collin are? Wow."

"Yeah. In the beginning, when it was just Sam and Em, apparently everyone though it was like, really rare, but then more and more of us started and, well I think most of the guys just consider it a matter-of-time sort of thing now."

"That must be weird, you know, just sort of waiting." I said.

"Yeah, but, I mean I don't think it's something many of them think about a lot. You get the guys like Tai, Luke and Embry, who are…well the play the field types, I guess." He smirked, "and then you get the likes of Seth in there-" he lowered his voice, gesturing to Seth's bedroom, "he's too good a guy not to really get involved with someone he likes, ya know? I mean, not that the others aren't great guys, it's just that Seth's different. He's the relationship type, I guess. So I think he'd find it hard sometimes, never really knowing…but for the most part I don't think many of the guys let it get to them."

By this time, I'd pretty much done with the French toast, and the eggs were done, so I started to plate everything up. Right on cue, Brady walked out of his room. It sounds corny I know, but the sight of him always did take my breath away. Standing outside his bedroom door, wearing only a cut off pair of sweats, his muscular body on display, giving me that look. The same look I'd seen Ozzy give Avis last night, the look of such intense love, I wanted to shrug away and blush.

"Good morning," I called perkily.

He walked over in silence, entering the kitchen area and grabbing me from behind; he quickly spun me around and lifted me to his height, assaulting my mouth with a passionate kiss. I squealed, embarrassed at being in front of Ozzy, who actually didn't seem at all phased.

"Good morning," Brady replied, leaving an arm around my shoulders and looking around at all the food.

"You didn't have to do this," he said, eyeing it hungrily, "but I'm glad as hell you did." He added, kissing my cheek, and loading us up a couple of plates.

"Okay, Brady," I laughed, eyeing the overflowing platefuls he created, "I won't eat that much".

"I know. But then _I'll _get to have your leftovers." He said with a cheeky grin.

"Clearwater! Get out here if you want food!!" Brady boomed as the three of us sat down to eat.

Seth stepped out groggily a few minutes later, joining the breakfast banter, and like the other two, polished off massive helpings of food. Just as predicted, nothing went to waste.

After breakfast, Brady and I hung around the house for a bit, while the others dispersed.

By around 11am I realized it'd be a good idea if I called my mom to let her know where I was. I knew she'd know exactly where I was, but I thought I should just call to reassure her anyway. I hadn't actually stayed over at Brady's place before- I don't think she would mind exactly, but that said, she might not appreciate me just not coming home.

Once I had finally located my phone, which turned out to be on the floor in Brady's room, I saw that there were three messages on it.

Thankfully, they were not _all_ from my mom, so she couldn't be too mad. There was just one from around midnight last night, asking if I knew if I was coming home.

I felt bad for not contacting her. Mostly because she was just so cool about everything- the knowledge that she would have been fine with it if I'd asked, just made me feel worse about not asking.

The next message was from Jaime- _are you ok? Should we talk?_

It was sent early this morning, and was closely followed be another message, from an unknown number.

All it said was _wolf-girl emergency ambush. Pick you up from Brady's at 11:30._

Although I didn't recognize the number it'd come from, I now had a pretty clear idea. Even over text message, I could almost hear Kim's blunt, "don't take any crap" tone of voice.

I quickly dialed my mom's number, thinking it was best to get it out of the way before I forgot again.

"Nola?" she said after a few rings.

"Hey mom- I'm sorry I didn't call. I stayed at-"

"Brady's. I figured." She finished for me, "It's okay, hon, just call next time, alright?"

"Sure. Thanks mom." I said, grateful she was so great about everything.

"So when do you think you'll be home?"

"Uh…I'm not sure- I'm meeting some…friends."

"Your friends from school?" she asked cheerfully.

"Uh, no, some of Brady's friends- their girlfriends, you know."

"Okay, cool. Well, you're free to stay there again tonight if you want, but, like I said, let me know. And Nola, don't be home late tomorrow, finals are coming up, remember."

How could I forget? My entire life revolved around anticipating graduation. I was practically counting the minutes.

"Okay, mom. I'll see you later then. And thanks."

"Sure thing, honey. Bye."

"Everything okay?" Brady asked, as he enveloped me from behind with his warm body.

I couldn't help but smile, feeling the bare skin of his arms on mine, and the soft touch of his lips at the base of my neck.

"It's perfect." I said, as I turned in his arms to face him, wrapping my own arms around his bare back.

"I got a text from…kim, I think? She says they're coming around soon to pick me up- the…. "wolf-girls" I mean." I said with a smirk.

"Right," Brady smiled, "they've all been dying to get you into their little circle. But they're stealing you away?" he added in mock-hurt. "I was all set for a day to ourselves."

"I know," I said into his chest, "I'll come back here later though?"

"Yeah. I'm patrolling tonight though, 6 till 11. Sorry" He said, looking down at me and tucking the hair that was in my face behind my ear.

"I think I should stay." I breathed. "My mom said it's okay, and then I can be here when you get back."  
He answered with a smile to match my own, before he leant down to kiss me.

"Perfect." He said as we pulled apart. "I could really get used to that, you know- you always being here."

"Me too."

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**Review time!! :D**


	21. Fuck It

**Hey!!**

**So, as always, enjoy! **

**I can't tell you exactly how long this fic will be yet, but I can assure you there's a while to go yet- I'm not ready to give these two up any time soon!**

**Also, it won't be starting until I'm at least nearing the end of this one, but I'm thinking about starting a spin off fic. It might just be a minific, but, knowing me could easily develop into something bigger. But I'm really interested to know what you guys would be into. I've had some past suggestions for something involving Lucas and Tai, or maybe a Jordan and Isla story, but I'm keen to hear what some more of you think, so be sure to review and leave me suggestions. **

**As usual, let me know what you think of the chapter!**

**-Ell :)**

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Chapter 21- Fuck It**

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_**Nola**_

"Hey, sweetie!" Kim greeted me as she walked in to the apartment, flanked by Jaime and Sarah.

"Hey," I replied, as Jaime came forward, grabbing my hand to usher me out the door.

"We're grabbing and going." She notified me.

"Hi Brady. Bye Brady." Kim called as he entered the room.

"You guys are seriously just going to come and steal her from me? That's how it is, huh? I don't even get a proper goodbye?" he joked.

"Fine. You get about 10 seconds." Kim replied.

And then, to my surprise, he grabbed me from behind, spinning me around and lifting me up before I could barely register what had happened.

He kissed me passionately, sparing no effort for the fact that we were being watched. I blushed deeply at Sarah's giggles, but Brady didn't let me down.

"I'll see you tonight." He assured me in a low voice, looking into my eyes in a way which made me seriously consider sending the girls away.

"See you tonight." I replied firmly, before he gave me one last kiss and set me down.

"So, what's the plan then?" I asked as I slid into the backseat of Kim's car with Jaime.

"Just back to mine." Kim replied, "the guys have the kids- Em and Rach couldn't make it, but the four of us are having a girls' afternoon- get used to it, hon, you're one of us now." She said, smirking at me in the rear-vision mirror.

"Okay," I laughed.

"Listen honey, imprinting is big, crazy, and let's face it, fucking weird. We all figured it couldn't hurt for you to talk to us about it. So there you go- we ambushed you." She added.

"Hey, fine by me." I replied.

Being a "wolf girl" was definitely not so bad.

We spent the afternoon laughing, chatting and eating food out on Kim and Jared's back porch.  
By the time we left that night, I felt like I was well on the way to being part of their little circle. I adored Kim. She was so much fun, while being incredibly blunt and upfront, _all the time._ And Sarah was really sweet, and great to be around. She would _not stop_ apologizing for blurting out the whole imprint thing, but, like I said to her, I was glad I knew.

And then of course Jaime was awesome.

Mostly we gossiped about the goings on in the pack- them filling me in on all the serious gossip I'd missed in the past few years. Who'd fought with who, who'd slept with who, who'd seen who naked- which would really be more accurately phrased, who _hadn't_ seen who naked, apparently.

I still found that a little unnerving- the whole, shared minds thing. I mean, from what the girls had told me, if the guys don't like, practise total mind-control, the others just get a free pass into whatever he's thinking.

I think that might make me feel a little weird around the other members of the pack now. But at least Brady had been doing it for a long time now. From what Kim said, they got better at it with practice.

I did not envy her, having to put up with it all when they were all teenagers.

"Oh my god- those have to be some of my strongest early members of Brady and Collin. The two goofy 13 year-olds who'd blush every time they saw me. Seriously, they'd never meet my eye." She'd laughed.

I'd had a really good time, and we'd ended up staying there for dinner, before Jaime dropped me back on her way home later that night. I hadn't imagined we'd all spend so long together, but I was grateful for it. Now, I only had around an hour to wait for Brady to come back.

_**Brady**_

Exactly two weeks had gone by since the Anniversary party where Nola found out about imprinting.

It was now midway through May, which also meant, thank god, that there were only a couple weeks left of the school year. Which meant, that there were only a couple weeks left of Nola being my student. And, after counting the days for what felt like forever, I could not fucking wait.

It wasn't like we weren't practically an exclusive couple anyway. I mean, we spent as much time together as we could considering there was school, patrol, and her having to study for finals, but we just could not wait to be able to not worry about everything.

It would be fantastic to just be able to go anywhere with Nola, and not have to be afraid to run into anyone. And we both knew the prospect of no more school brought with it the chance to spend a bunch more time together.

God, it'd just be great to be able to drop this shit. Having to pretend all the time. Having to watch her partake in my class, as if she was any other student. Having to let her run right by me without grabbing her and assaulting her with kisses. It was a fucking mission.

Today, I held her class out on the football field and went through the lesson with the usual excruciating act of having to ignore her. As we all retreated to the locker rooms at the end of the lesson, I found myself walking parallel to her and her group of friends, as they chatted happily.

I had an easy view of her from where I was. The cold weather and physical activity had the tip of her nose and tops of her cheeks pinkened adorably, while the mist in the La Push air had dampened her hair a little, making it slightly wavier than usual. In all the time I'd known Nola she had not had a haircut. I loved her for it, her hair was perfect, and was now so long it fell beautifully right down her back.

I could see her chest rising and falling dramatically as she breathed deep breaths under the tension of trying to ignore me.

She could feel me watching her. I knew it because her lips curled upwards in the faintest smirk, while her eyes, just for a second, flicked round to meet mine.

Fuck it.

"Er, Nola, could I see you in my office for a minute?" I asked in my teacher-voice.

She followed me in, leaving her friends to enter their locker room to change.

As soon as we were behind the closed door I grabbed her, thankful for once that the shoddy school only allowed me to have an office with minimal windows, which were to high to open, or more importantly, see through.

Pressing her against the door I'd just closed, I kissed her deeply, a hand on her face, the other on her waist, feeling like I never wanted to break the connection.

When we finally did she looked at me with a mixture of surprise and passion on her face, her eyes alight, so alive.

"God, you're beautiful." I breathed, kissing her again.

Her hands gripped the back of my neck as she held my head in place, making our kiss deeper still as our tongues began to massage each other.

I could feel myself getting a little too…carried away. But all I could think was "fuck it." All I could think was how much I wanted to be doing exactly what I _was_ doing at that moment.

"I fucking love you." I whispered, moving my hands to her cold, bare thighs and hoisting her up so that she could hook her legs together around my waist, me supporting her weight.

She began to kiss a trail down my neck, before covering my collarbone, and any other flesh she could reach that wasn't concealed by my t-shirt.

Fuck, I wanted her. So fucking bad.

This was the most amazing, most beautiful woman I could ever possibly meet, and I held her in my arms. I had her kissing me, touching me, making me forget everything else.

"Woah, Brady- Brady- Brady- Brady." She whispered, shaking her head and giggling softly. "We can't be doing this…now....here." She sighed, looking into my eyes in a way that completely went against the words coming out of her mouth.

I let out a defeated breath, setting her down again, and placing one final kiss on her lips.

"Sorry." I smirked cheekily. "That was just something I had to do."

She raised an eyebrow. "Two weeks."

I nodded. "Two weeks."

And, straightening herself out, she left.

_**Nola**_

I spent that afternoon thinking about sex.

Yup, that ominous topic every teenager had to dedicate a large portion of time to worry about, think about, talk about and …well, you get the idea.

After Brady had surprised me with our secret office make out session, it wasn't hard to see how the subject was on my mind.

Not to mention the facts that I wasn't a virgin, I was currently dating a guy I was pretty much guaranteed to spend the rest of my life with, we hadn't done it yet, I was hopelessly in love with him, and, last but not least, he was freaking gorgeous.

I could hardly be around Brady at all without wanting to touch him, or get closer to him in some way. And by now, we'd gotten _pretty close._ Just, in my opinion, not close enough.

My mom had remained solid on her stance that since I was 18 she wasn't going to stop me from sleeping over at Brady's house, which I did most weekends now. And she'd even taken me to get on the pill, like two weeks ago. She knew about my situation with Scott, as I'd told her afterwards what had happened. Like I said, we've always been close.

I hadn't told her much about Brady and me though.

And I think, to be honest, she may have regretted "operation birth control" when I sat her down for a little conversation last week which I like to call, "you know my boyfriend? Yeah, well he's actually my teacher."

It had taken a lot for me to build up the courage to finally tell her. I had no idea how she'd react, so I was being a coward about it. Honestly, at one point I'd toyed with the idea of just not telling her at all. But, as Brady reminded me, she would be at graduation in a couple weeks time, and so would he, and it may strike her as a little strange that he happened to be sitting in the staff section.

So then I'd just decided to get it over with already. Besides, of all the news I'd heard in last little while, from wolves to imprints, this one really didn't seem all that big.

I'd just sort of blurted it out in one go- not wanting to skip around it, and not really sure how to put it anyway.

"Your teacher?" She'd said after a long pause, frowning profusely.

"Yeah. It's his first placement. He _is_ 21, he got his GED and ended up getting his teaching degree a little early."

"Oh." She'd said, followed by more silence.

Finally, she broke through.

"Nola, why wouldn't you tell me that? I mean, I know it's a shock, and I don't really know what I would have said if I'd found out earlier, but, well, I guess I just thought we had a more open relationship than that."

Shit. I felt really bad. Especially after how great she was about everything.

"Um, I'm so sorry, mom. It's just, like you said, you don't know what you would have done. But now you know Brady. You know how amazing he is, and you know…well….you know how much I…I love him"

She'd thought it over for a while.

Shaking her head to herself, she'd finally said,

"Well, you are right- he _is _great. And I trust you, Nola. But, just try to be the responsible person that _I know_ you are. Because you know the kind of trouble the two of you could be in here."

"I do know, mom." I'd nodded, relieved she at least wasn't overly mad. "Thanks."

It had been weird. For the first time in what felt like forever, I felt awkward around my mom. For a few days, at least, I couldn't shake the feeling like she was disappointed in me. After a while, though, I saw that it was just me, blowing things out of proportion, as usual.

I guess I just felt bad because of her comment about thinking we were more open with each other. But, with time, it seemed to fade into nothing.

She really was a great mom.

So anyways, coming back to the here and now, I was lounging around my room, having just spent an hour and a half studying, and feeling like my brain needed some serious rest.

And here I was, thinking about sex.

I had no real question about whether or not I was ready anymore.  
I don't know if I was the first time I did it. But in my mind that part of my life was so far in the past that it seemed to be completely separate to where I was now.

With Brady, I knew what I was getting myself in for. Brady would be the guy I would wake up next to forever. And this first time, well, it would be the first of many.

Brady had patrol tonight until 7, and being that it was Friday, mom was cool with me going to stay with him, so now I was basically just waiting around for 7 o'clock to hurry up and get here.

_**Brady**_

"Hey, Brady, how's things?" Pete greeted me warmly, as I showed up to their house after my patrol.

"Hey, Pete. Yeah, I'm great thanks, how 'bout you?"

"Good, good." He nodded, gesturing for me to come inside.

"She's upstairs if you want to go up." He said before sitting back at the table returning to work at his laptop.

"Thanks." I replied, before speed walking into the living room, and up the stairs to Nola's bedroom

"Hello." She said, practically leaping into my arms as I entered the room.

"Hi." I sighed, breathing her in and feeling myself become instantly happier now that she was with me again.

"How's everything going?" I asked, dropping her down on the bed and lying down beside her.

"Oh, okay, I guess. I kind of just want to hurry up and take the finals before my head becomes too full and spontaneously combusts." She laughed.

"You'll do great." I said, rolling on to my side to look at her, "you've got all the brains you need in there." I said, tapping her head as she turned to face me.

"I think you're a little biased." She smirked.

"Are you forgetting I actually work at your school? Don't think I don't know you're coming 5th in the class."

She blushed lightly.

"But definitely no college?" I asked for about the fiftieth time. I know she said she didn't want to go yet, but I hated the thought of her having regrets later, and I wanted to make sure she wasn't making her decision because of me.

"Brady, seriously, I made the choice to put it off _before_ we got together. I just don't think that's what's next for me."

"Okay." I nodded. "So we'll see the world, then. You and me." I said, intertwining our fingers. "And then, when we get back, you can decide."

She stretched up to lightly touch her lips to mine. God this girl was perfect.

We lay there for a while in silence.

"I can't wait." She said after a while.

"For what?" I questioned, brushing her soft cheek with the back of my knuckles.

"For life with you." She said quietly. "I can't wait to wake up and see you there everyday. I can't wait to see the world with you. I can't wait to, to be your wife. I can't wait to have your children. I-"

I cut her off, rolling her onto her back and attacking her mouth with kisses. It was as if she was saying exactly what I had been thinking. I can't even explain how it made me feel to know that she wanted that, _all_ of that, with me.

She wrapped her arms around me, pulling me down to deepen our kisses further, as she sighed against my mouth.

"Mmmm…no, no, no, no, no. Stop." She giggled, pushing me up by my shoulders.

"What?" I asked.

"Okay, I just thought you should know that I got a mom in the next room, and a step dad downstairs- so if we're going to get…carried away, we should-"

"Go to my place?"

"Yup." She grinned.

"Okay, I see your point." I said, climbing off the bed.

Quickly she threw some clothes in a bag and we said goodbye to her mom and Pete, before walking to my apartment.

By the time we got there the tension between us had gotten a little unbearable. At the top of the stairs I picked her up, and she wrapped her arms around my neck, our lips not breaking connection as I carried her inside.

"Hey guys" Seth greeted us from the couch as we each waved in reply, going straight into my bedroom and collapsing on the bed.

It amazed me how the simplest of things became euphoric when I was with Nola.

For instance, I adored the taste of her skin. The taste, the smell, I couldn't get enough as I trailed kisses down her neck and chest.

"Brady, I love you." She sighed against the touch of my lips to her collarbone, words which never failed to amaze me. I lined kisses down her torso, kissing the perfect mounds of her breasts through the thin fabric of her t-shirt. She was braless. I could feel the hard peaks of her nipples under my lips, and felt her arch her back dramatically, making a hissing sound as I touched my tongue to them, experimentally.

I could smell her arousal, deliciously strong in the small room.

"I love you so fucking much." I whispered as I raised my head to look up at her face.

Her breathing was deep, dramatic as I continued my trail, kissing down her stomach, caressing the bare flesh where her t-shirt had ridden up to expose the light golden concave of her stomach.

And then I was back up, kissing her lips passionately, groaning into her mouth at the feel of her tongue sliding against my own.

This time it was my hands that explored, kneading her breasts, her waist, her butt, her thighs.

Then, sliding my hand back up her smooth leg, and feeling the soft flesh of her inner thighs. She gasped as I drew circles with my thumbs on the sensitive skin there, never breaking the connection of our mouths.

And then, up further I moved, slowly pushing aside her cotton panties to gently massage her sensitive nerves.

"God. Brady." She panted, breaking her lips away from mine and gripping my back with her arms.

I didn't stop, but continued in my ministrations whilst I traced the nape of her neck with my nose.

And finally I slipped two fingers into her warm entrance. In the few times we'd done this, I never got used to the overwhelming delight of listening to her, feeling her, and knowing that I could make her feel like this.

She panted and gasped as I moved inside of her, curving my fingers, whilst continuing to massage her with my thumb.

"Ugh..Brady! Oh god!" she gasped as I continued on, until finally, with a muffled cry against my neck, I felt her contract violently, riding out the sensation, until we relaxed.

"I've made a decision." She said a few moments later, as we lay next to each other on our backs.

"Oh yeah?" I replied, turning to look at her.

"We're going to have sex."

"Er, okay, if you _really_ want to, I suppose, I wouldn't mind." I joked.

She giggled, sitting up and hitting me on the chest.

"Seriously," she said. "I've decided, that in two weeks, on the night of graduation, that's when I want to do it." She said matter-of-factly.

"You're sure?" I said.

"I'm sure. I want you Brady. _So _bad. And I also want he first time we do it to be…at the risk of sounding corny…special. So, then. Right after the day we've been waiting for all this time. On the day when we can become a couple for real. Then." She said, adding, "Is that…I mean, do you want to…"

I chuckled, "Are you serious? Nola, have you _seen_ you? Do you know how hard it is for me not to just grab you and rip your clothes off everyday in gym class? Trust me, I want to."

She blushed, smiling lightly.

"God, I love you, Nola."

"I love you too."


	22. Into the Future

**Hey everyone, **

**I hope you're all still enjoying the story. Reviews have been a little slow lately, so as always, please, please leave a comment. Hearing what you think is really what makes writing new chapters worthwhile, so, in turn getting more reviews encourages me to write more, and get uploads up faster!**

**Thanks to a couple of people who left comments about spin off preferences, but more would be awesome. I'm pretty sure that there will definitely be a Jordan and Isla story starting soon. I have a first chapter drafted and am getting quite excited about writing their story, but am reluctant to get too involved just yet, as I don't want to take time away from writing this one. **

**Anyway, if anybody has anymore ideas, about a spin off with any of my characters, let me know. :)**

**And, finally, I wanted to say that I've updated my photobucket with a couple more pics- now you can see how I imagine Brady, Nola, Collin, Jaime, Isla, Jordan, Lucas and Tai. So head over there and check it out (url's on my profile), and leave me a comment about what you think. **

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Chapter 22- Into the Future**

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_**Nola**_

"Mom, it's a graduating class of 42, stop worrying about whether or not you'll get seats."

"Okay, okay. I just want everything to go perfect. So you're sure it'll be fine for your brother to bring Isla?" she questioned.

"I can't see why not. They're going to have seating for 200, so four tickets will be fine." Mom had been stressing about the graduation ceremony for days. We were East Coast people, and we were definitely not tiny 200 student high school people, so her idea of a graduation was a lot less low key than the La Push high school's idea of the ceremony.

I could hardly believe it was just 3 days away. After I'd practically been counting the minutes for the last 2 months I'd been so excited for the day to just hurry up and get here, but I hadn't really stopped to realize the significance of it.

I was done with finals, and had hopefully done well, and now all that was left to do was graduate.

It seemed crazy to me that school was over. Really over. Who knew if I'd wind up going to college or not, but never again would I attend regular school. It was quite surreal to think about.

But, those thoughts aside, I was still going crazy with excitement for Saturday.

I know they always say that corny line about graduation being the start of the rest of your lives. But in this case, that really felt true. I felt like my finishing High School was like the beginning of my life with Brady and I couldn't wait.

I was also really excited to see Jordan again. His semester had ended last week, so he and Isla were going to take a bus up here on Friday. It would be great to see him again, though he wasn't staying long. He and Isla would be here about a week before they went back to California to spend some time at her parents' house in Brentwood.

"Okay, well, I know you probably want to go out with Brady or your friends, but I thought we'd have a big dinner here to celebrate on Saturday night, and then you can go out after, okay?" My mom asked.

"Sure, mom, that will be great."

"We'll just have the 6 of us, Pete and I, Jordan and Isla and you and Brady. I'll cook a big roast."

My mom was a good cook- she'd taught me a lot over the years, and I wasn't bad at it. But mom was great at putting together the big impressive spreads.

"That sounds perfect, mom, thanks."

_**Brady**_

It was nearing 6, so I thought I'd better hurry up and get to my patrol. I'd just got off the phone with Nola, who'd called to let me know about a family dinner they were having on the night of graduation. It sounded fun, and I found that her family was really easy to be around, which was great.

I was just on time as I phased and started towards the northern border of the rez.

_Hey man. _

_Brady!_

I was greeted by Collin and Embry, who were both on patrol with me tonight.

_Evening boys. _

_So, not long now, huh? I hear it's the big graduation day on Saturday._ Came the sound of Embry's thoughts.

_Yeah, like you haven't heard that from Brady himself every fucking second of the day. Shit, it's going to be a relief for you come the weekend, huh man? _Collin added.

_Yeah well, it's been a long time coming and all that. Can't wait to not have to worry about rules and shit, you know?_

_Yup. _Embry piped up. _You'd never know she was in high school anyway, right? I mean, shit a couple of those friends of hers tried it on, and to be honest, I didn't have a clue they were still, shall we say, committed? Fuck knows what could've happened…_

_Yeah, right. _I replied, _tried it on, did they? And you made no act of reciprocation? _I teased.

_Hey, hey, I am a friend to all. If someone wants a chat, I'm going to have to oblige. _

The next couple of hours went by pretty slowly, the three of us keeping separated, as usual, me covering the north, while Embry took the eastern side and Col the south.

For a while we kept to ourselves, before I smelt it.

I knew it was only through Collin's mind that I could got the full force of the smell, because, in reality it was much worse. Sickly, sweet, repulsive.

Just then Embry let out a loud hell, a signal to other wolves that there was a vamp around.

I could see both Embry and Collin's minds racing through the trees, running at full speed as I took off in Collin's direction.

It wasn't long before the smell got clearer and clearer, to my own nose this time.

I could smell the scent intensify directly south of the town, while, there also seemed to be another source of it a few miles south east.

Fuck. There was two of them.

_Brady, go help Collin, I'll head east with Embry. _It was Sam, who'd heard Embry's call and phased just in time.

I had caught up with Collin a few moments later, as we both tried to surround where the smell was strongest.

And then we saw it.

A female with long matted black hair and minimal scraps of clothing. She was dirty and unkempt, and had landed in a tree up ahead, before my very eyes, and just perched there, a repulsed look on her face.

_I got her from behind._ Collin said.

Then I saw him, Collin had stalked up behind her, so we each had a side of the tree covered, while she stayed up there, staring down at me.

What the fuck? She could obviously see us, and smell us. So why the hell wasn't she trying to get away.

After a few moments she pounced again. Racing at me in flash of white, I stalked back just in time and she landed on her feet in front of me.

Immediately I struck her, pinning her between my paws and the ground as Collin came up to meet me, tearing her left arm off with his mouth. We ripped it apart quickly, and had the pieces separated to wait for the others.

_What the fuck was that? _Collin asked. _Of all the amateur vamps we've come across, none have gone down that easily. She hardly tried to escape, let alone fight back. _

_I know. _I replied. _The look on its face, it was like, I don't know, like it was confused or surprised or something._

Meanwhile, it seemed Sam and Embry had had a similar situation with the vamp they'd encountered. We'd seen it had been another female, this one with a little more fight in her, but she still had been strangely reluctant to run away, which the vamps who were not great fighters often did.

"Well done guys. However strange that was, still, a job well done." Sam said as we set fire to the piles of reeking limbs that were the two leeches.

The next day, Thursday and the second to last day of the school year, went by in a rush of craziness. My senior class was entirely forgone, due to graduation run-throughs or whatever, and the whole school was abuzz with the end-of-year madness. THe end was in sight, so nobody was really getting anything done in their classes anymore. Thankfully, as a P.E. teacher I didn't have to worry about too many loose ends to tie up- I didn't give a proper end of year exam or anything, and it wasn't as though there was work to mark. I had submitted my final grades last week and all that was left was to hold out for these last few days.

I'd been thinking a lot about Saturday night, ever since Nola told me that that was when she wanted us to sleep together. You know, in the biblical sense, anyway.

From my knowledge of the pack, and from what some of the guys had said to me lately, it was kind of weird that Nola and I had gone this long without having done it already. But, I just felt like it was important to wait.

Don't get me wrong, I wanted to do it. More than….shit, well more than almost anything, but I really felt like Nola would tell me when she was ready, and that's when we'd do it. The last thing I'd wanted was for her to feel pressured in any way.

So, I just really wanted things to be…perfect.

When we'd patrolled together the other night Seth had found out what I was planning- not my intention, of course, but it was never very far from my mind- and he'd straight away insisted that he was going to visit Leah in Portland this weekend, anyway. He went often, so it wasn't out of the ordinary, but I knew he was going as a favour to me, so that we could have the apartment, and I was grateful. It just left Ozzy. I'd thought about maybe saying something to him, but as it turned out Seth had gotten there first. Oz worked nights anyways, but said he was going to crash over at Embry and Quil's place afterwards. So it looked as if, due to no real effort of my own, Nola and I would be alone all night.

_**Nola**_

"Step into my office" He said in a mock- smooth operator kind of voice.

"You're such a dork." I laughed, walking in and sitting atop Brady's desk.

It was officially my last day of high school. Ironically enough, on my last day of high school I didn't actually have any "school", exactly.

The seniors basically had free periods all day, because; let's face it there was nothing left to do, anyway. We had another graduation run-through this morning, and now I had nothing for the final three periods of the day, I just had to sign in. The idea was that we all had like, loose ends to tie up and stuff, I think, and giving the seniors the classes off, more importantly meant the teachers had the classes off, I guess, so they got time to finish up whatever they had to do for the end of school year.

And so it happened that Brady and I both had a free period.

"You excited about tomorrow?" He said, sitting down in his chair.

With me sitting on his high desk facing him, and he at his chair, our faces were almost the same height.

"Which part?" I smirked, swinging my legs.

"Graduation, of course. Why? What else is there to be excited about?" he said, keeping an entirely straight face.

I made to kick him in the knees, but he stopped me, catching my legs and holding one of my calves in each hot palm.

He looked up to me with a cocky smirk, sliding his hands up my legs until he suddenly pulled my forward, making me fall with a squeal into his lap.

I laughed, adjusting myself so that I straddled him.

And then, his lips were on me.

He kissed my lips, before moving to my neck, and working his way up to kiss behind my ear.

"_I _can't wait". He whispered against my neck, his warm breath and lips tickling my skin.

"Me neither." I breathed.

We kissed, for a _long_ time, barely breaking for air, just enjoying the feeling of each other. His warm hands felt amazing where they rested on the outsides of my bare thighs, where he'd move them up and down every now and again.

"I like these shorts" he said after a while, as he'd moved his hands to rest on my butt.

It was a rare warm day in La Push. The sun was actually out, so I'd dressed for it with a pair of very short daisy-duke style denim cut offs.

"Oh yeah?" I smirked at him.

"Yeah." He said, slipping his fingertips under the base of them and lightly pinching the bottom of my butt.

I bit my lip, remembering full well where we were, and not wanting to get too carried away.

"Are they new?" he said, as he kissed top of each of my shoulders.

"N-no," I said, going crazy at the feeling of his hands working so close to where I wanted them. "They're…Ah…too cold for…La Push."

He chuckled, moving his hands away, and giving my but a light tap.

"It should heat up around here more often, then." He said, kissing me passionately on the lips. Just then the shrill deafening sound of the school bell sounded, letting me know I had to go meet up with my friends for lunch, or they'd get suspicious.

Brady groaned. "Okay, well, I'll see you tomorrow then." He said, between quick "last" kisses. "you should spend tonight with your family. Say hi to Jordan and Isla for me."

"I will" I said, "I love you."

"I fucking _adore_ you" he said back, not letting go of me.

I smiled, giving him one last kiss- for real, this time.

"And by the way," I said lowly, "I'm really, _really_ excited about tomorrow."

Later that night mom and I drove into Forks, where Jordan and Isla were getting in.

Having waited for just a few minutes, their bus arrived and we watched as they got off and came over to meet us.

Before I could barely register what had happened, I was enveloped in Jordan's brotherly bear-hug, once again.

"Wow Mom, our little girl's growing up" Jordan mock-gushed after greeting us.

"Don't get me started," Mom replied- a legitimate warning, as I was half expecting her to start crying any minute. I remember when Jordan graduated; she was a dithering wreck for days.

Jordan confidently introduced Isla to mom, obviously still completely enamored by her, which was great to see.

Then she gave me a warm hug, saying it was great to see me again, and I sincerely felt the same way.

That night Pete took the five of us out to the only proper restaurant in Forks, and we had a great time. It was so nice to see them again, and that everyone was really very comfortable and happy around each other.

_**Brady**_

In a rare occurrence for La Push the weather had actually decided to remain great for two days in a row, which is just as well, because the principal had decided to move the graduation ceremony out onto the football field yesterday. That was a very risky move for La Push, as we all knew well, but it seemed to have paid off, as today it was sunny and even warmer than it had been yesterday.

With the ceremony at 3, I was expected to be at the school early, so showered and started getting ready just after 2.

This was about the only thing I didn't like about the events of today; the clothes.

We were expected to dress formal, which wouldn't have been a problem, if it wasn't for my freakish body heat which made it uncomfortable to even wear a t-shirt sometimes.

But considering all the positive things about today, I considered it a more than tolerable trade off, and dressed in some brown dress pants and a white button down shirt, rolling the sleeves up to my elbows.

The weather held out all afternoon, meaning the ceremony was in warm sunlight, and went along smoothly.  
It was weird to see it all happen, knowing I'd been waiting for this day for months, and it was finally here.

Nola, of course, was breath-taking.

I didn't get to see her in the sun much, so just sitting there, being able to look at her, standing up there with her friends. The sun making her pale blonde hair glow around her face, which wouldn't stop smiling.

I adore that smile.

The whole ceremony went by pretty quickly- largely, because I paid almost no attention to what was being said, and spent the entire time gazing at Nola.

When her name was called, and she walked, with her perfect composure, up to grab her diploma, I felt elated.

I could hardly believe it had finally happened. I was so proud of who she was- it still baffled me to think she was with me.

She was so smart and brave- she did everything with conviction, and no regrets.

I was smiling wider than I think I ever had, and as the class were released and all walked out into the crowd to find their families, there she was.

I found her beautiful blue eyes staring into mine from across the field, and her smile mirrored my own.

"Nola, honey, we're so proud of you. You finished with an excellent GPA, you've worked hard, and we know you're going to do great things." Her mom gushed, toasting Nola from her seat at one end of the table.

We were all seated around the dining table at their place, where Paula had cooked a delicious meal for us all. It felt really comfortable and nice to be around Nola and her family, and was great to see Jordan and Isla again.

I squeezed Nola's hand beside me, smiling at her as her mom was beginning to get teary.

Paula had already had a moment earlier, when she, Pete and Jordan had presented Nola with her graduation present, which, to her large surprise, was her own car.

They'd managed to hide it all very well, and Nola had no idea, so it was cool to see her so excited. Pete had talked to me earlier about how he'd picked it up in Seattle and had it checked out with two mechanics before he bought it whether or not it was a safe model, which I'd appreciated a lot. It was perfect for her, too. I cute little shiny silver hatch.

I had my gift all ready as well, but I was waiting until later. I knew by now she probably thought I hadn't gotten her anything, and knowing Nola that wouldn't bother her at all, but I was saving it to surprise her and could barely wait.

"Okay, okay, mom. No more waterworks." Jordan joked. "But seriously, Nola, well done." He said, sincerely. "We're all just so- so- p-p-proud of yoooou" he pretended to sob, much to the laughter of everyone else.

It was a fun night, swapping jokes and chatter with everyone, eating great food, and having Nola there beside me, knowing that we could wake up tomorrow and go for a walk, go to the store, go anywhere, hand in hand without a care in the world.


	23. Something Beautiful

**Hey everyone,**

**so this is a much anticipated chapter, I hope you like it!**

**For anyone who wouldn't have already guessed, this chapter is pretty much all- lemon. So as a warning, if you're really not into that sort of thing, you may want to go ahead and skip this chapter. **

**Anyways, enjoy. :)**

**And, as always, be sure to review!**

**I'm really hoping to break the 100 review mark sometime soon, so please, please let me know what you think!**

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Chapter 23- Something Beautiful**

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_**Nola**_

You know that feeling when you're just so full of…_feelings_ that you feel like your every nerve is on end, and you feel as though you could just explode? I don't know if you do know that feeling or not, but tonight, I definitely knew about it.

I felt like after anticipating this moment for so long, I could hardly believe it had happened. I had actually graduated high school. I was finished. Done.

Brady was no longer my teacher; we could be together in any way we wanted. And topping it all off was the knowledge that by the end of tonight, we _would_ be together in every way that we wanted.

I could hardly believe how perfect today had been.

It just felt so good to be able to graduate, and to have all of the people I cared the most about here to celebrate.

A little while after dinner, Brady and I left.

The sun was just going down, and we walked the short distance to his place.

"God, I'm happy." He said as we rounded the corner onto his street.

I laughed, "I know, right? I just can't stop smiling."

As we got to the hardware store, he took me by surprise when his scooped me up, carrying me bridal-style into the apartment.

"Aren't we supposed to wait for our wedding night for the whole "threshold" thing?" I giggled.

"You're mine, and we can do whatever we want." He smiled at me, not really talking just about the "threshold" bit, I'm sure.

Inside the apartment he carried me into his bedroom, setting me down on my feet just inside the door.

As I looked at the room around me, I was amazed.

I was constantly surprised at how perfect Brady was. The room was in low light, because he'd set up big candles around the room, casting golden streaks of light in every direction.

It may sound clichéd but it wasn't. It wasn't corny; there were no rose petals. It was just beautiful. And it was just us.

I turned to look at him, finding his eyes studying my every move.

"I love you." I whispered.

He nodded his head, grinning. "The words don't even feel like enough, but _god, _I love you."

He pulled me gently into his arms, reaching his hands up to the back of my head, to pull the pins out of my hair, and let it fall in waves down my back and onto my shoulders.

He didn't take his eyes off my face. It was that same look all the time, the one that was so loving it made me want to shy away. But tonight I didn't, because that look mirrored exactly how I felt about the guy I was looking at, and I didn't want to take my eyes off him for a second.

I reached my hands forward and silently began to unbutton his shirt. I hadn't seen him dressed up before, and if I hadn't seen him without a shirt, I'd have said it was his best look.

Slowly the buttons came away, as he shuddered lightly as my fingertips brushed against the skin of his torso.

I pushed the crisp, white cotton off of his shoulders, letting it fall the floor. Suddenly, his lips were at my neck, making me close my eyes at the sensation as they trailed a path down to my shoulders.

He kissed my shoulder profusely, before sliding a strap of my dress down, and then moving onto the other.

And then, his big, warm hands slid around to my back, slowly driving the zip of my dress the whole way down, to where it stopped at the small of my back.

I shivered at the feel of his warm hands tracing my back, holding my now unzipped dress in place on my body.

I looked up into his eyes, a look which seemed to say everything, because suddenly, he removed his grasp and my dress was off. It fell to the floor, leaving me standing before him in my simple grey lace bra and underwear set.

Brady's eyes took me in, darkening with desire and adoration.

"You are so beautiful." He whispered.

I could feel my breathing becoming deep, my chest rising and falling dramatically as we looked into each others eyes, waiting for the next move.

The golden light of the room danced off his dark skin, hair and eyes, making him look as gorgeous and god-like as ever.

His hands at the small of my back, he scooped me up, placing me onto his bed, where he held himself up over me, pausing for a moment to look into my eyes before he started a trail of kisses from my lips to my neck, from my neck, down across my collarbone, the exposed portion of my chest, right down my stomach, around my belly button.

I felt completely wired, my every nerve standing on end. His touch felt electric and incredible, in the original sense of the word.

The pit of my stomach was tightening with every passing moment and I could feel a constant pooling of desire at my core, as his lips ravished me.

And then, he rolled us, so that I was now straddling him, as he lay on his back, gazing up at me intently.

Boldly, I reached behind my back, slowly unclasping my bra, and letting it fall, fully exposing myself to Brady for the first time.

His eyes became darker still, as they looked at me, his breathing deep and heavy.

His hands slid up my bare back, massaging my breasts from the sides on their way up to the back of my neck, where they stopped, pulling me back down to him so that he could kiss me passionately on the lips.

Everything was slow, perfectly slow. Like we both wanted to draw out the moments for as long as possible.

His hands were all over me, slowly working themselves up and down my back, over my but and down my thighs, on my waist, on my breasts, on my face and in my hair.

We were kissing for what felt like forever.

After a while I wanted to change position, I needed to feel him over me again, his heat surrounding me, his weight above me. I rolled off of him to lie beside him on the bed, wrapping my arms around his neck and making to pull him over onto me. He got the idea and was above me again, supporting his weight on one arm as I bent my knees up, giving him room to come to rest between my legs.

From this position, as we kissed, I could feel his obvious hardness against my bare thigh, the straining linen of his pants the only thing separating us. I wanted them gone.

Not breaking the connection of our mouths, I skimmed my hand down his torso, tracing the hard planes of his muscles as I went, before stopping at the waistband of his pants, to work their top button. I could feel him shudder at my touch when I boldly brushed his hard-on over his trousers.

Suddenly, he slid off of me, to stand up at the foot of the bed. I lay there, propping myself up on my elbows, confused for a split second.

From this angle he took my body in with a look of ultimate desire, which only made me want _him_ more.

Silently, he looked into my eyes as he unzipped and slowly removed his straining pants, underneath which, unsurprisingly, he was wearing nothing.

As they dropped to the floor my eyes took him in. God, he was amazing. His entire body was just…perfect.

I was surprised at his…size. I'd got the idea he was pretty big, but nothing was like seeing it for the first time.

After just a moment, he came back down to lie over me again.

Not coming all the way up, he stopped with his face at my chest.

He rested his face between my breasts, breathing me in before he began to trail kisses around my left, while his hand caressed my right.

After a moment I gasped as I felt his mouth, hot and moist, close around my already hard nipple. I didn't think I could want him any more than I had before, but the feel of his mouth made me want to scream it. I laced my hands through his hair as he continued on, sucking and nuzzling before he moved on to the other side. This time, the combination was incredible. His warm mouth on my right nipple, while the wetness of my left was exposed to the cold air of the room.

"Uh…god, Brady." I cried out as he continued on, before sliding his way back up to kiss my lips.

I could feel his hot, naked member brush my thighs, making me shudder, arching my back up off the bed, wanting to press every inch of my body closer to him.

I ran my hand down the side of his body, bringing it around to take hold of his hardness.

I'd never done this with Brady before. He felt incredible.

So hard, and hotter than any other part of his body.

"Ahh, fuck." He hissed as I began to move my hand up and down, creating a gentle rhythm.  
After a little while he reached his hand down, grabbing mine to stop it.

"No. Stop. I'm close." He gasped as I looked at him in confusion.

I relaxed my body back down onto the bed as he breathed deeply, placing another gentle kiss on my lips.

"I love you" he whispered, looking into my eyes, which were filled with desire.

Rightfully so, he took that as his assurance.

The thin grey lace of my panties was the only fabric that separated us, and was soaked through with my wetness.

His thumbs hooked under the fabric at their sides, and slowly, he pulled them off, trailing them slowly down my legs, before I flicked them off completely.

He came back down to rest over me, looking into my face as his hot, deliberate hands began to massage my most sensitive spot.

My eyes were forced closed as I gasped and groaned at the feeling of his fingers.

He quickly slipped two of them inside of me, beginning to work his usual brilliance.

I felt completely unhinged, as after a while the tension was too much to bear.

I could feel myself starting the familiar building. But this wasn't how I wanted it to happen. I wanted to feel him. I _needed_ to feel him inside of me.

"_Brady, please._ Ah. I- I _need _you." I gasped out against his shoulder.

Thankfully, he knew exactly what I needed, as he quickly pulled his hand away, leaving me with a screaming desire for him.

His dark brown eyes looked into mine, as he positioned himself at my entrance. My heart was racing out of control, and both of our chests were rising and falling dramatically in anticipation.

Finally, he began to press himself into me, slowly descending, almost filling me before he paused, to check my eyes.

It was indescribable.

He was so hot and thick; it was unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. I gave him a look of encouragement and he ventured further, continuing slowly to fill me completely.

I could feel a slight pain as I felt his length stretch me, knowing this was far deeper than I'd experienced before.

But god knows, it was worth it.

I hissed at the sensation as I hooked my legs around his body, forcing myself to cover him completely.

"Oh..Fuck, Nola." Brady cried out at my movement.

I loved that I could make him feel half as good as he made me.

Slowly, he began to pull out, before moving back in, creating a friction all-too slow and gentle.

"Oh, _god_" I panted as his pace quickened, and I began to feel myself building faster and higher than ever before.

I wrapped my arms tight around his broad hot shoulders, noticing the salty beads of sweat there as I pressed his shoulder with my mouth.

His thrusts became steady and quickened still, while he never failed to return to his full depth, hitting all of my most sensitive spots and making me groan and cry out involuntarily.

I was close to release, I could feel it already, I was building higher and higher still.

Suddenly, he moved a hand down the length of my body and came to rest his thumb at my bundle of nerves, massaging it in fast circles while he continued to thrust inside of me.

It was enough to undo me completely. "Ah! Oh! Shit Brady!" I screamed out.

I had built up to breaking point, feeling my every nerve explode as my body clenched in the absolute euphoria of my release.

The tightening of my release prompted Brady's, and we rode out our pleasure simultaneously as I felt him let go inside of me.

My previously arching body fell back to relax against the bed while Brady did the same, collapsing on top of me before quickly rolling onto his side so that he didn't trap me with his weight.

We both lay there, panting in exhaustion, before he pulled me against him to relax in his arms.

_**Brady**_

Tonight was the single best night of my life.

It wasn't hard to guess that doing it with your imprint would be better, but I seriously felt like I'd never even fucking _had _sex until I'd had sex with her.

There was just something about being so connected, in every sense of the word, which was indescribable.

It was the early hours of the morning, and I didn't want to sleep. I was lying next to a fucking goddess who slept peacefully beside me, with this gorgeous half smile on her content face. I could stare at her forever, she was so damn beautiful.

After we'd been together three incredible times, we'd been exhausted, and had collapsed into each other's arms, where we'd been lying ever since. Nola was sleeping completely blissfully, her face just inches from mine, her deep rhythmic breaths hitting my chest as she exhaled.

Though it suited me fine just to watch her sleep, I guess I fell asleep eventually, because the next thing I knew, I was waking up to the streams of bright white sunlight entering the room.

The clock on my wall told me it was just after nine.

She still slept next to me; in the exact position she had hours before, with that same look of absolute peace on her face.

The light that streaked through the room through the curtains I hadn't bothered to close illuminated Nola's perfect body, mostly covered by the thin, white cotton sheet. The light hit her pale hair, making it glow almost white around her face, while rays of light kissed her tanned shoulders and upper chest.

It sounds fucking corny but I wanted to take a mental snapshot of her there, in that moment. She was so beautiful, it was an image I never wanted to forget.

After a few moments she started to move slightly.

I felt her fingertips brush my stomach as she stretched, moving her body and breathing in, followed by a massive grin stretching across her face. Finally, she opened her eyes to look up at me.

"Good morning." She whispered faintly.

"Good morning." I replied with a smile.

She shifted her body, wriggling in close for me to wrap my arms firmly around her naked body.

She kissed my chest lightly, and then looking up, she sought out my lips.

"Did you sleep well?" I asked when we pulled apart.

"Better than ever." She said back, flopping back onto her back and stretching out, grinning.

"Nola?" I asked, rolling over so that I was hovering above her, my weight supported by my arms.

"Brady?" She sighed, grinning suggestively up at me.

"No. Seriously." I urged. "Last night was…well…was it…I didn't hurt you at all, did I?" I just had to know. I couldn't bear the thought of her going through pain and keeping it to herself for my benefit.

She sighed deeply, shaking her head slowly. "Brady." She said firmly in a low voice, looking into my eyes, "you _so_ did not hurt me." She smirked. "Last night, well, it was the best night of my life."

"Are you sure?" I said, bringing my face down low so that our foreheads touched.

She placed her soft, smooth palms on my cheeks, pulling my face down to hers and kissing me deeply. "I'm sure."

"God, I love you." I murmured into the side of her neck as I kissed it.

"So I've heard." She said.

"I might just never let you leave this bed you know." I said, moving on to kiss the other side.

"Well that's going to be a problem, because I kind of need to take a shower," she said, running her hands up and down my torso.

"Too bad." I replied, "I just don't think I'm going to let you go."

"You're not?"

"Absolutely not."

"Well…" she began, bending her knees up on either side of my body, "what if I said you could join me?" she finished, quickly locking her legs together around my waist, pressing her body against mine.

"Okay." I said quickly. Sold. This was a life I could get used to.


	24. I'm Walking On Sunshine

**Hey everyone.**

**Oh my god- FINALLY she updates! I'm so sorry it's been this long guys, honestly. THings have just been crazy.**

**So not a huge amount happens in this chapter, which I'm sorry for, after holding out on you for like a month. BUt it's generally just a nice fluffy chapter, which we all like sometimes :)**

**Also: I have officially uploaded the first chapter of my Jordan and Isla spin off fic! It's called There is No Remedy For Love But To Love More**

**So make sure you check it out and LEAVE ME REVIEWS! I'll update when I get some feedback from you all, so make sure you leave me something. :)**

**I have some holidays coming up, so can hopefully get a lot of both stories written then. But for now, bear with me. **

**ENjoy. :D**

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Chapter 24- I'm Walking On Sunshine**

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_**Nola**_

I had barely registered before Brady had us both off the bed and power-walking to the bathroom.

I clung to his body, my arms around his neck and my legs locked together around his waist, meaning both of our very naked bodies were pressed firmly together as he walked us out of the bedroom and through the living room into the small bathroom.

He opened the door and turned the shower on without ever taking his eyes off of my own, only finally breaking eye contact as he leant in to kiss me passionately.

The depth of the kiss, together with the proximity of our bodies sent desire rippling through me.

My mind was flooded with perfect memories of the night before as I clung tighter to his warm body.

Where his hands were on my butt, he began to move my body up and down against him, creating a friction in the rocking that made me whimper.

Suddenly he put me down, setting me down in the shower under the stream of warm water.

He stood there for a moment, looking me up and down with dark eyes as the water soaked my hair and body, hitting my shoulders and streaming down my frame.

"Well, see ya." He joked, making to turn and walk away.

I giggled, leaning forward to quickly grab his arm and pull him in with me.

"Hi." He said, looking down at me as the water began to cover his body, trailing down the deep cuts of his defined muscles.

"Hi." I replied with a smirk.

Suddenly his large, warm hands were on my back, trailing down my body until he rested them on my upper thighs, firmly pressing his fingers into the soft flesh there as he quickly hoisted me up to wrap my legs around his waist again.

His desire-filled dark eyes bore into mine before he was kissing me again. The closeness of our warm, wet bodies was causing me to ache in my never ending need for him, making me groan into his mouth as I rolled my hips against his, feeling his overwhelming hardness so close to where I wanted it.

Suddenly his firm hands moved around to my hips, and he moved me, quickly, firmly and deliberately, thrusting his full length into me right on cue.

"Shit! Brady!" I cried out at the incredible force of his movement.

Just like last night, I could hardly believe it was possible to feel this good.

He suddenly spun me round, pinning me to the shower wall as he began to thrust in and out of me, eliciting low grunts into the side of my neck where he buried his face.

The feel of being completely wrapped up and joined with his warm body, coupled with the cool sensation of the tiles on my back and the constant stream of water over us was nothing short of incredible.

I couldn't really even process thoughts when we were together like this, I was only overcome by the fact that I could be with this utterly wonderful person, and enjoy in the sensation of our union.

"_God, _you're perfect." Brady said in a low voice as he dried me off with one of his big chocolate brown towels, "Do I tell you that enough?" he asked me, his eyes lingering all over my body, as if it was the first time he'd seen it, and he hadn't just had me propped up against the shower wall.

"I think you do." I giggled.

"Seriously though," he said, smiling and wrapping the towel around me slowly, tucking it in place at the front. "I was thinking this morning, about how we get to wake up together like that whenever we want now, and how it's going to be like that for, well…ever. And it just sounded-"

"Perfect?" I cut him off.

"Yeah," he nodded, lowering his head to kiss me chastely.

"Come on." I smirked up at him, holding his hand to walk back to his bedroom.

When we were in there he flopped back onto his unmade bed.

"Really?" I grinned. "I was going to suggest food- and I thought you'd be the first one to-"

"Good idea." He smiled, propping himself up on his arms to look at me. "Hey, I know." He said, his face lighting up. "We'll go out- Port Angeles? We could get ourselves a proper big breakfast- besides, it'll be my first chance to show you off in public." He smiled like an excited little kid.

I felt like my face was going to break from all the smiling this morning. Just when I thought I couldn't love him any more- I did.

"Okay, sounds great." I said, climbing onto the bed to sit beside him. "But we have to swing by my place first- I need clothes."

Just then he pulled the front of my towel so that it fell around me on the bed, leaving me exposed. He looked me up and down.

"You do not need clothes. Ever."

"Okay, I need clothes for _public._" I laughed.

"Fine." He said in mock-defeat.

"And so do you." I added as I got up off the bed and located my dress from last night.

I pulled it over my head, letting it fall, a little wrinkled and disheveled looking, down my body.

Brady watched me as I opened his drawers and grabbed him out a fresh pair of shorts and a t-shirt, throwing them to land on his bare torso.

"Food. Yup, Okay." He murmured before springing into action and dressing in about three seconds flat.

"Let's go." He said, giving me a smile and engulfing my small hand in his large, warm one.

_**Brady**_

I wonder if there'll come a time when I'll be able to be in the same room as a naked Nola, and be able to string together an intelligible train of thought. Looking at her sitting beside me, utterly bare, I very much doubted it.

But my hunger for actual food was going to have to beat out my hunger for…well, Nola, at the moment, as I followed her lead and threw on some clothes.

I was usually up at like 7 for school, so right now breakfast was about 3 hours overdue, and I was feeling the starvation.

We walked hand in hand together to her place. I couldn't get over how different everything felt today. It was unbelievable, after all this time, that Nola and I could finally be together as a couple. We didn't have to give a second thought to who we'd bump into or what would happen if we went out together, it was just…perfect.

When we arrived at Nola's place Paula and Isla greeted us from the sunny kitchen, where they sat talking.

"Hey you guys," Paula called, her wide smile flashing.

"Hey."

"Did you have a good night?" Isla asked.

"Yeah." Nola nodded, nonchalantly. I squeezed her hand.

"You guys want something to eat?" Paula questioned, "we don't have much, Jordan and Pete are supposed to be picking some stuff up while they're out, but I'm sure I could rustle something up."

"No, that's okay, mom. Brady's taking me out for breakfast- we're driving up to Port Angeles." She said with a smile.

"Ooh, lucky you." Paula gushed, Isla nodding in agreement.

"Yeah," said Nola, "I'm just gonna go upstairs and get ready, then we'll go."

She didn't break our hands free- instead she led me to follow her up into her room.

I closed the door behind us, and suddenly she turned around to face me. She looked at me for a moment, as if deliberating with herself, before she quickly had her hands up on the back of my neck, pulling me down to kiss her.

Startled, and as usual, pent up with desire for her, I obliged, passionately kissing her deeply while my hands explored her body.

Before long we were gasping and groping for each other, and she was trying to wrench my t-shirt up and over my head.

"Wait." She said, stopping and taking a step back from me.

She let out a small laugh, looking at me with that radiant smile of hers, and those bright piercing eyes I couldn't get past.

"Isn't this kind of…counter productive?" She laughed, gesturing to my t-shirt, which she now held in her hand.

I smiled back at her, nodding.

"Yeah, food, right?" I laughed, taking my shirt and letting out a short sigh as I pulled it back over my head.

In my very limited experience with actual relationships, I had nothing to associate this time with. It was like we could not be in the same room as one another without wanting to rip each other's clothes off. I didn't know if this was something that would pass, but going by how I felt now, I didn't think it would. And quite frankly, I was okay with that, because it was fucking fantastic.

I flopped onto Nola's bed and watched as she glided around the room in her usual radiance, in search for something to wear.

She seemed to be making silent decisions in her head that played out on her face. I could tell she was weighing up options. She kept taking stuff out of a drawer or closet, and then putting it back with a shake of the head.

I laughed. "It's no big deal, babe, just throw something on and we'll go."

She gave me a withering look, returning to her closet where she finally seemed to have found something to go with the shirt she had in her hand.

"I like this sort of thing- you know, putting outfits together. I like…clothes and fashion generally, a lot." She said.

"I know." I replied with a smile.

"What do you mean, you know?" She questioned, as she turned and walked over to her chest-of-drawers, picking out some underwear and putting them on underneath the dress she wore now. "I never told you that before."

"Because," I replied, "You're always talking, when you think I'm not listening, about some new designer or something in some magazine you've read, and you always make sure you look amazing- even though you'd achieve that even if you wore a black garbage bag around. You wear dresses when other people wear sweats or beat up jeans, and because, I think, I kinda, sorta, know you." I finished with a smirk.

She'd paused to listen- standing before me in her fresh bra and panties she'd just put on, with a sort of half smile on her face.

"You really pay attention to all that stuff?" She asked in a quiet voice.

"Nola, you're my favorite thing in the world."

She walked over to the bed climbing on it and crawling up to me. She didn't stop, just sorta launched herself at me, attacking my mouth with her kisses, before pulling away for a moment. "Maybe breakfast can wait." She said.

_**Nola**_

When we finally actually got there, Brady and I had a really good, _huge_ brunch out. Well, his portion was huge, anyway.

It was nearing lunchtime, so you could claim he was accommodating for both meals, I guess, but still, it never ceased to amaze me how much he could eat, and still wind up hungry!

We stayed at the cute little café in Port Angeles for a long time. It was a gorgeous day- particularly for the Pacific Northwest, and it seemed to go perfectly with my mood. Everything just felt so…perfect. I'd never felt so good before, so free of worries and so content with everything. Brady just made me happy. That was all there was to it.

"You know," he said as we sat there at the little table outside, having finished our meals and enjoying sitting in the warm sun, "what we were talking about earlier, it got me thinking, you should do that." He said vaguely.

"You're gonna have to give me a little more to work with, babe." I said.

"You know, clothes, fashion…whatever. That's what you like, right? Then you should do it, pursue it. Something that involves something you love."

Huh. It seemed weird that I hadn't really considered that before. I guess I'd always just thought there was nothing really obvious staring me in the face and telling me that I just _had_ to study it, and make it my career, so I'd always thought I wasn't really interested in anything. But he was right. I think something like that would make me happy. Working with clothes and fashion. I nodded, it sounded really fun.

"You should do something you're going to really _enjoy. _That's all I mean." He added.

"No, you're right." I said, looking up to smile at him, "I never really thought about it, but I think I would enjoy that." He had a look that told me he was feeling pleased with himself, before his face changed abruptly.

"You know what? Shit, that reminds me. I can't believe I forgot." He said, cursing himself, and then looking up to me with a grin. "Let's go." He said, getting up in a flourish and rushing inside to pay the bill, leaving me sitting at the table, bewildered.

"Well, come on then." Brady said, smiling as he came back outside to find I hadn't moved.

"What are we rushing off for?" I asked, more than curious as to what this whole thing was about.

"Oh, no. You don't get to know, yet. Just sit tight until we get back- and then all will be revealed." He said smoothly, taking my hand and leading me out to where the car was parked.

"Don't you think you should at least let me drive, considering it's, you know, _my_ car?" I said in protest as he opened the passenger side door for me.

"Well," he said, "I could, but then I sorta love you, remember. I'm not having it on my conscience when we wind up in a ditch." He teased.

"Okay, well, for starters, you haven't actually _seen_ me drive." I argued, as I got into the car, anyway.

We mock bickered all the way back to La Push, where he pulled up outside the hardware store apartment and practically sprinted around to my side to meet me. I had no idea what had him so excited, but I wanted to find out.

"Come on." He urged, leading me by the hand up to the apartment, which was empty- neither of his roommates having come home yet.

"Seriously, Brady I'm getting impatient here."

"Okay, okay, wait here." He instructed as I stood in the living room while he rushed into his bedroom, coming back out in a couple seconds flat, holding what appeared to be a simple envelope.

"What-" I started, before he cut me off.

"This is your graduation present." He said with a smile.

What? I hadn't even thought about Brady getting me anything.

"No, seriously, Brady, you didn't-"

"Open it." He said, putting the white envelope into my hands.

Looking up at him curiously, I complied, tearing the top of the envelope off and pulling out its contents into my hands.

I read the first piece of paper around 6 times before I fully comprehended.

"Paris?" I said quietly, looking up at his face, which had not moved in the last minute, entirely focused on my reaction.

"You said you wanted to see the world, right? I thought we could start…together." He said, sounding a little apprehensive.

My hands were shaking- I couldn't believe how amazing this was. A hundred thoughts were rushing through my brain.

"But, Brady, this is…it's expensive, it's too much…"

"Nola- what else would I spend my money on but you. Okay? It's done. No take-backs." He smiled, putting his hands up and stepping back.

I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything. I just ran forward to close the distance between us, leaping into his arms, as he scooped me up to kiss him.

"We're going to Paris?" I said ecstatically when we finally broke for air.

"Yup." He nodded with a grin.

My smile felt like it was about to break my face in half.

"Thank you." I whispered into his face, as I leant my forehead against his.

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	25. Just a Day

**Hi everyone, **

**so it's been a while again, I know, but shouldn't be too long (touch-wood) before the next one after this.**

**Hope you're all still really enjoying the story-keep those reviews coming in!**

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Chapter 25- Just a Day**

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_**Brady**_

Just waking up, I rolled over to find the other side of my bed empty. The confusion lasted only as long as it took for my senses to properly awaken as I breathed in the incredible smell of fried eggs and bacon.

_God I loved that girl._

The last week had been incredible.

Not having to worry about going in to work at all, that feeling of complete freedom where Nola and I could be together as much as we wanted to be, which, of course was pretty much every second.

We'd spent quite a bit of time over at her place or out doing something with Jordan and Isla, they left tomorrow, so of course Nola wanted to spend time with her brother while she was here, which was fine by me.

But we hadn't spent a night apart since her graduation, with the exception of the few hours every couple days that I had to do night patrol, but now that I was on vacation I planned to talk to Sam about having a change around so that I could go back to some day slots.

My stomach, as usual felt all too empty and that smell was driving me crazy. I threw on a pair of shorts and walked out into the kitchen to find Nola sitting at the table next to Seth, who was eagerly devouring some of the mountain of food she'd cooked.

"Oh good-morning, sleeping-beauty." Nola said, looking up at me from her breakfast with that million-dollar grin.

I smiled back, resenting Seth's presence deeply as I took her in.

The sun, which had held up for a surprisingly long time for La Push, shone through the apartment, shining off her golden skin and illuminating her hair, which she'd scooped up in a messy knot on top of her head, little wisps of it flying out around her face. She was wearing only her cotton pajama shorts and white tank top and looked, as always, absolutely delectable.

"Good morning," I said as I sat down next to her, leaning in to kiss her cheek and down her jaw, breathing in her intoxicating scent for just long enough before her hand on my chest pushed me away. She smirked, blushing and turning to grab plate off the counter behind her, which she passed to me.

"Knock yourself out." She said, gesturing to the pile of scrambled eggs and bacon in the middle of the table.

"So anyways, man," Seth began, after we'd both consumed massive portions of food, "bunch of the guys are going out to the cliffs today, you in?"

"Yeah, sure," I replied quickly. It'd been a while since we'd gone, and it was a good time.

Nola gave me a look of confusion.

"Cliff-diving." I clarified.

"Oh, sounds like fun, even if that water is ice-cold. I'll go by my house to get my suit, and come with."

"No way." I shook my head at her. "It's dangerous."

"Uh, Brady don't be such a guy." She rolled her eyes. "A bunch of my friends from school have done it. And all the other wolf girls go."

"That isn't true." I said, grasping at straws, "Emily's never been, and Rachel won't go."

"Yeah, because she's as big as a house right now. Besides, I'm coming with you, you don't get to control me." She added, clearing up her plate and giving me a confident smirk.

"Dude, I'm pretty sure you lost on that one." Seth said, taking a break from finishing up what was left of the eggs.

"Fine." I said, defeated, "But you only jump from lower down." I said firmly, following her back into my bedroom.

She turned around to look at me, "okay," she nodded, continuing to smirk at me.

"What?"

"Nothing," she laughed, putting her arms around my neck, "you're just very cute when you're trying to be all over-protective."

She lent in to kiss me, before clapping a hand on my cheek, "come on, we'll get dressed and head over to mine," she said spinning around away from me and quickly replacing her boxer shorts for the denim ones she'd been wearing the day before.

I watched as she removed her shirt, pulling one of my own T-shirts over her head.

"Hey, that's _mine,_" I teased, grabbing her by the back of the baggy t-shirt and pulling her in close, "give it back." I said, lifting it over her head again and wrapping my arms around her, her bare chest pressed against mine.

"Very funny," she giggled as I began to trail my hands down her bare back, "but I was actually planning on, you know, doing stuff t-today." She breathed, faltering as I brought my hands down to her butt and thighs.

"Yeah, me too," I replied, hoisting her up and carrying her over to my bed, "I just have some…other…ideas about the…stuff we should do." I said, dropping her down onto the bed and leaning in to assault her neck and chest with kisses.

"Ah-Okay," she sighed, giggling lightly at my touch, her chest rebounding under me, "ha-half an hour."

_**Nola**_

Okay, so I know I gave Brady a hard time for trying to warn me against this, but now, I had to admit, it was a little scary. Not that I would be admitting that to _him_ of course, but inside my head it was okay.

A few of us were on the lower outcropping of the cliffs which overlooked first beach, and despite it being a warm day, the gray water below did not look exactly inviting. Not to mention the fact that there was a very considerable drop you had to go through before you plunged on into it.

"It's great once you do it that first time," Jaime reassured me.

"Yeah, like a lot of things.." Kim added, suggestively. Jaime and I laughed, just as the sight of Jared soaring out and down towards the water came from much higher up.

He, Embry, Seth and Sam were up top, and most of them had already made the frighteningly high leap off of the cliffs. It was hard, sometimes, to remember the super-human side of things, particularly when all you see are shirtless guys throwing themselves off a Cliffside. But, of course they were all okay, and would tear through the water at impossible paces, emerging with stupid grins, to sprint back up and go again.

With Jared in the water, Kim decided to follow, letting out a high pitched squeal before she quickly ran towards the rock side and threw herself off, soaring through the air to meet him below.

"Come on Jay," Collin taunted, racing forward and grabbing Jaime by the waist, making like he was about to throw her off.

She screamed, kicking his legs and laughing until he finally let her down, and jumped himself.

"Here goes," she said to me with her dimpled-grin, as she followed her imprint, her petite body soaring down into the water below.

Brady stood beside me, holding my hand.

"Are you scared?" he asked me simply.

"No." I lied, smiling at him. He didn't believe me for a second.

"Let's go um…tandem" He said.

"What do you mea-" I started, but just then he showed me what he meant, wrapping his arms around me and lifting me to support my weight, he surprised me, running forward and propelling us off of the cliff.

I screamed at the fright of the action, feeling myself soaring towards the water in what felt like slow motion, as Brady's kept me firmly enveloped, then, faster than I'd imagined, I felt us plunge into the icy water.

As we broke the surface, Brady loosened his hold, looking at me with a huge grin on his face, which I splashed water in, scolding him.

We couldn't stop laughing as we treaded water, my body adjusting quickly to its freezing temperature. Everyone was right, cliff diving was a total rush.

After a couple hours, when I'd dived (by myself) several times, and we were all pretty tired out, everyone headed over to Jared and Kim's place.

It was a warm, sunny afternoon, and we sat in the backyard and ate a huge lunch that Jaime, Kim and I prepared with the help of Emily, who arrived shortly after with the kids.

It was just as well it was warm; really, us girls were practically frozen after spending the morning either _in _the freezing water, or covered in it, in tiny bathing suits.

"Oh my goodness, Paris!" Emily gushed as we wolf-girls sat together on the porch, "I am so jealous. That'll be amazing."

"Yeah, I'm pretty excited." I said. Understatement of the century.

"So when do you leave?" Kim asked.

"Um, we fly out from Seattle July 9th, and we're back on the 27th. We're going to try and get a bit of sight-seeing done around some other areas of France for a few days, maybe rent a car and just sort of go exploring. Plus we're stopping over in London for a night on the way home, which I'm really excited about."

"Oh my god, I can't believe Brady- coming up with all of that." Kim said in aw.

I smiled; it was no secret that I was more than a little biased when it came to Brady. To me, he was basically perfect. But even I was pleasantly surprised that he could surprise me with such an amazing trip planned. I guess it was just another one of those things that he would continue to baffle me with: the idea that I could actually love him _more_ every day.

"Hey, babe it's 3.30." Brady said a little while later, as I felt him come up behind me, placing his warm hands on my shoulders.

"Oh, thanks." I registered. Brady knew I had to head home. It was Jordan and Isla's last night with us before they got up early tomorrow to drive to Seattle to catch their flight to Los Angeles.

I had spent a lot of time with them during their visit, but I couldn't help but feel guilty about the fact that I also spent a large amount of it away from them, with Brady. Jordan was too laid back to care much, I knew, but I definitely wanted to go home to have the afternoon and dinner with them on their last night.

After I'd said my goodbyes to the pack lot, Brady and I took the short walk to my place.

"Well I'll let you have the night with your family, I'll go back and hang with the guys." He said with his warm smile.

"Are you sure?" I asked, "you know you're totally welcome in there-"

"I know," he nodded, smiling, "but you should hang with them on your own for a bit. I'll come and find you later?" he asked with a smirk.

"You better." I said stepping closer to him.

"He wrapped his huge arms around me, warming my body which was still a little cold as I wore my damp bikini underneath my denim cut-offs and Brady's big gray T-shirt.

"I love you." Brady murmured, lifting me off of the ground and kissing me.

"Love you too." I whispered when we broke apart, before, with a long, lingering look, I turned to go inside.

_**Brady**_

"Wake up."

"Brady, babe, wake up."

Groggily, I became aware of Nola's touch, and tuned in to the sounds of her urging me awake.

I registered it was still dark when I finally let my eyelids open, so it had to be the early hours of the morning.

Suddenly, my brain caught up with me, and the alarms sounded inside my head.

"Nola, what's up? Are you okay?" I choked out, sitting up suddenly and trying to fully wake myself up.

Nola had, as was becoming usual for us, spent the night at my place. I'd gone to pick her up around eleven-thirty, after she'd had a nice night with her family, and let's just say we didn't exactly get to…sleep…until a lot later than that. Which, coupled with the night patrols I ran for most of the week, had me pretty beat. Well, too beat to be alert at this hour, anyway. The hour which, thanks to the glaring light of the alarm clock I could now see, I knew to be 4.12am.

"I'm fine," she said in a low voice, "It's Sam." I didn't get it.

"On the phone." She added bluntly, clearly not happy about the hour herself, as she waved my silver cell at me.

"Oh." I grunted taking the phone from her.

"Brady." Sam said immediately after I greeted him. All business. "I need you to get over here. My place, now. And wake Seth and tell him, too. I take it Ozzy has work?"

Bewildered, it took me a minute to register.

"Ah, yeah, he does." I replied.

"Okay." He said. "So you two come over, now, alright?" he said seriously, not giving me time to reply before I heard the connection click off in my ear.

"What was that about?" Nola questioned me, she looked worried. Clearly my confused expression and the hour of the phone call had let on that something was up. I just wish I knew what.

"Um, I don't know, Seth and I have to go over to Sam's. I'm guessing the whole pack does." I said, trying my best to downplay it as I threw on some sweats at wolf-speed.

"I guess I'll see you later. Go back to sleep, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." I told her, leaning over the bed to kiss her quickly before I left the room.

Once I'd quickly replied Sam's routine to Seth, the two of us ran down to the woods' entrance that backed on to the hardware store's parking lot, phasing and tearing off for the Uley's place.

Just why the hell we were going there at 4am on a Sunday morning, we could not have expected.

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**Time to REVIEW!**


	26. Tomorrow Never Knows

**Hey guys, I'm so so sorry it's been SO long between updates- I've just had so much crap going on in my life lately, it's been really hard to find time to write. So I think by now I've learned not to make any promises as far as updates go, but I'll just say that I really don't intend to leave it so late, and hopefully it doesn't happen again. Especially considering hardly anyone in fanfic seems to be uploading as quickly nowadays- I myself have like 4 stories I'm in the middle of, but the writers haven't updated any of them for months? So I know how it feels when it's left so long, and I am very, very sorry. :D**

**But hopefully you like this, the story's getting a bit more action packed now, and once again, sorry that I left you on a cliff hanger for that long!**

**Please, please remember to review!**

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Chapter 26- Tomorrow Never Knows**

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Sam**_

"Shit!" I said under my breath as I felt something hard and plastic disintegrate under my foot. One of the kids' toys, I guessed, with a twang of guilt. I continued to creep as quickly as I could to grab the phone before it woke Emily or one of the kids.

Who the fuck was ringing at 3.30 in the morning, anyway?

Out in the kitchen, I grabbed the phone, turning it on and silencing the all-too-loud ringer in the quiet house.

"Yup?" I half-whispered into the receiver.

"Sam, it's Jake." Jake's voice came through hard, blunt and serious.

"Uh, hey Jake wha-" I started, confused, before Jake cut me off.

"Look I know it's late there, but I have…I have stuff I have to tell you."

"Okay." I replied, carefully opening the sliding door in the living room and walking out into the backyard.

"So I'm just going to explain everything, and wait till I'm done to say anything, okay?" Jake said in a voice I recognized as one we both adopted when talking about something very serious. I knew it was something neither of us could help, the alpha voice.

I just grunted for him to continue, eager to see what the hell was going on here.

"Okay, well I've been thinking," Jake started, "for a while, about moving home. I ran the idea past Ness the other day, and then, yesterday we decided, definitively, we were gonna come back in just over a week."

I let him go on, not really able to see where he was going with it.

"You know Alice, Alice Cullen- how she has, like, visions?"

"Yup."

"Well, she can't see…us, uh, she can't see, like the future that involves the wolves or whatever-" Jake said quickly, sounding frustrated- whatever this was had him shaken up, I could tell.

"And, uh, well when Nessie and I…decided- or, I guess, when _Nessie_ decided, it triggered Alice to have a vision. She thinks, the reason she had it was because, I dunno I guess we must get separated or something- anyway, in her vision, Nessie was…she was sort of captured- Alice thinks it looks like Billy's house. In the…the vision, she was there, and there were these two leeches sort of like…holding her hostage...or um, to-torturing her or something." Jake said, sounding sick.

I had a hundred questions I was ready to ask, but he went on, there was more.

"She couldn't recognize the vamps, but obviously she was trying to figure out what the hell the vision was, and since she can't see the wolves it made it hard. She couldn't figure it out, so she ended up trying to focus in on the vampires from the vision. She thought it was a long shot, but if she focused on them, she may be able to pick up something from _their _futures."

"Okay…" I said, urging him to continue.

"So she has been. She's been honing in on them, and, well, just now she got something."

"It's a whole group- sort of an army. I guess they have know knowledge of what Alice can do because they haven't made any effort to conceal their plans- which definitely works for us. From what she can see it's a mixture of newborns and older vampires, possibly like a collaboration of a bunch of nomadic vamps from all over. The vision didn't let up a lot, but it gave us enough. We know what they're doing, we know when they're going to do it, and we know why they're doing it."

I grunted for him to continue.

"It's the pack, Sam." I guess word's been getting around amongst the leeches about our tribe, its size and the threat that it poses. They're some kind of mission to wipe it out. They plan to attack the tribe, trying to wipe out the pack."

The news Jake was delivering had all been building up to this, I was stunned, frozen. For a moment I couldn't process a clear thought. Then Jake went on.

"So I guess they would have caught us by surprise, and obviously some of them would have got to Billy's while none of us were there to protect Nessie- or to cloud Alice's vision. But the army is big, Sam, bigger than we fought that time it was the newborns, not by much, but it is bigger. Besides, a lot of them will be experienced fighters, we need to be prepared for a tough battle." Jake said, gravely.

"When?" I asked.

"Twelve days. In the vision she had, Alice got a scene of a bunch of them having a sort of meeting. They were planning. And there was a clear date set. But, that said, we have to be ready."

"Yup." I agreed nodding my head. Shit. I knew what had to be done. We needed to work more on training. Starting as soon as possible. The pack had had a pretty easy time of it for the last few years, and I doubted that they were all in the shape required to wipe out this many vamps.

"So we're coming there on the next available flight. We have to fly in to LA, and then up to Seattle but we'll be there tomorrow night. All the Cullens are coming too, of course."

"Okay." I said, still shaken. "Uh, I'll just…get everyone together I guess, start…trying to figure out some of the logistics of all this.."

"Okay," Jake agreed, "So I guess I'll see you tomorrow? At this stage, you now know everything I do. Alice has obviously still got the feelers out, but, you know, it's not something she can control, so there's nothing to say we'll get any more information."

"Um…yeah, well tell her thanks, Jake, and the rest of the Cullens too, okay?"

"Yeah, of course." He said, neither of us dropping the grave tones from our voices.

"I'll see you later, then." I said.

"Yup, bye, Sam."

Shit. Slowly I began to pace up and down the length of our backyard, gripping the phone a little too firmly in my hands, I became aware of the plastic shell beginning to crack under the strain.

Fuck. I had to tell the guys, I had to tell everyone.

Everyone had to know that, in effect, we were about to go to war. A war we couldn't be sure we'd all come back from.

Alone with my thoughts I fretted over things to myself for a little while. That is, until I became aware of the sliding door opening slowly.

"Sam?" Emily whispered, appearing in the doorway, looking tired, confused and breath-takingly beautiful as ever. "Is everything alright?" She asked.

And that's the moment I felt my insides drop with the burden of intense worry and panic. That's when I finally realized the full scale of the situation.

I felt sick. The next conversation I was to have would not be easy.

_**Brady**_

A war.

As we stood around in Sam's backyard, him filling us in on the conversation he'd had with Jake about a half hour ago, I felt like everything had been put into slow motion. It'd been years since anything had posed a serious threat to the pack, and it was surprising how uneasy I felt about it now. I couldn't remember ever feeling like this when it happened before, and that seemed so stupid to me now. How could I have been such an idiot? I can remember actually almost looking _forward_ to the battles we'd had last time. Feeling excited, ready to do what I was born to do, without a care in the world.

Now, as the prospect of an even bigger scale battle than we'd ever faced I couldn't get over the gloomy feeling of realizing the seriousness of the situation.

Not that I was really worried about the pack's survival. We were all well trained fighters who could more than hold our own against the vamps, and with the help of the Cullens we'd probably be fine. But I just felt like ever since I got the news a weight had been pressed on my chest. This time, the concept of a war just seemed so much more serious.

And it wasn't hard to determine why. Among other things, like the fact that I must have a matured a little in the last eight years, it was clear that this time, I had a hell of a lot more to lose.

And as soon as the thought came to me, the sick feeling of dread in my stomach intensified. How the hell was I supposed to explain this to Nola?

I turned to see Collin next to me, whose expression seemed to mirror my own. We were almost too proud to admit it openly, but we each knew; we were both scared as fuck.

God. Looking around at us all in the circle, it really dawned on me how different the situation was this time around. A bunch of the guys had imprints they'd be feeling sick to have to leave like this, hell, some of them even had kids.

I couldn't get Emily's face out of my mind; I'd seen her as I'd arrived. She was currently inside with Rachel, the only other girl here, who I assumed now knew everything as well.

I couldn't have known why at the time, but thinking back, when I'd seen Emily tonight, she looked absolutely terrified.

Sam continued to explain stuff to us, having waited a little while for the news to sink in.

"So, we're going to be starting training sessions from tomorrow, and up scaling patrols, " he explained, "I want to have everyone do a shift everyday, so they'll be shorter in length, and we'll have three or four people on at the same time, basically, it means we'll have double the protection, in case anything unexpected happens, and there'll also be the chance for you guys to practice some combat during the patrols."

"Also," he went on, "we're going to work out the logistics of things a little later, but for now, I can let you guys know that there's going to be at least one wolf who sits out of the fight to protect the tribe. So Paul will stay here with the women and kids," Sam said, looking at Paul, who gave a serious nod. "Rachel's due date is just a few days after the day that Jake told us for the fight, so obviously Paul should be the one to stay behind," he added.

I nodded in agreement, though I knew we all probably felt the same heavy dread weighing on our shoulders, no way would any of us have put up our hands to be the one to sit out. There was just that sense of duty that came with being a wolf, a feeling like you had to serve and protect. It sounds lame, I know, but we all got it, we all felt it. I'd shared a mind with these guys long enough to know that despite times when some of us cursed the crap out of being a wolf, we never dropped that veneer of pride and responsibility. We knew that this is what we're here for; we have to protect our people, so there was no use trying to get out of it.

And, on some other level, and I felt like a bit of a douche for thinking it, but, as a wolf there were times when you actually sort of _craved _the battle. It was one of those things that you could put into the basket of more animal thoughts or feelings, but particularly when I was phased, I just felt…restless, sometimes. Now I just associated it with my early years as a wolf, when I was so young all I wanted to do was use my 'cool' speed and strength to rip something to shreds.

After a little while longer of talking, Sam finished. We all just sort of stood there for a bit. Some of the guys were avidly asking questions, wanting to know absolutely everything else, right then and there. But after some time we all just kind of dispersed, giving each other knowing nods or short, grunted phrases about seeing each other tomorrow.

I just wanted to get home. I couldn't really figure how I felt about this. War, conflict, danger was coming, and it was coming soon. And I think the seriousness and the reality of the situation was hitting me more and more with each passing second. I wanted to be home, and that home had nothing to do with the apartment above the hardware store. Home was Nola.

Phased, I ran quickly through the forest, the woods around me in a blur of dark green as I focused on my destination.

I tuned out the images and similar thoughts that flooded my head from the other guys who, like me were on their way back home, and just focused on picturing Nola, asleep in my bed, the most beautiful person I'd ever see.

As my thoughts honed in on this simple concept, the idea of what I'd find when I got inside, I somehow, subconsciously began to slow my pace. Suddenly I was merely jogging, until I was coming to a slow stop just shy of the woods' edge. Harsh reality stung my thoughts.

I knew that I'd have to tell her. I'd have to say _something._ And then, I'd have to see her fear. See her go through the trauma of the worry, the stress.

_I know it sucks, man, but there's no way around it, we've got to tell them._ It was Collin, he too on his way home, interrupting my pained thoughts.

_Yeah, _I shrugged off, trying to internally convince him. _I'll catch you later, man._ I said, quickly phasing back and pulling up the sweat's I'd had tied around my ankle. I couldn't deal with anyone, even Collin, telling me how I had to deal with this.

I just had to be alone with my thoughts for a second. I had to figure this out. What the hell was I going to say to her?

"Oh, hey babe, just found out a huge army of vamps want to wage a war with us, but don't worry, it's all good?" Yeah, somehow, I didn't think so.

Reluctantly, I resolved to just come out with it when she asked, which I'm sure would be sometime in the next few minutes, I didn't really believe she would have slept through that drama.

I walked sullenly out of the forest and through the empty parking lot of the hardware store. Climbing the stairwell, I consciously took my time slowly making my way up and into the familiar apartment.

"You're home." And there she was, coming out of my room, wearing one of my own t-shirts, looking like some complete goddess. The grey-white glow from the early morning moonlight hit her skin and made her hair shine white as it spilled from it's messy knot on top of her head to frame her perfect face. Her beautiful face, which was tonight one of confusion and concern. She leant against the doorway to the bedroom, waiting for me there as I walked over to her.

"So what was that about?" she asked quietly, as I greeted her, taking her into my arms.

I looked down at that face, those eyes. Those eyes I'd first looked into the day my world changed. The day my universe shifted. Those eyes I knew that as long as I could stare into their depths I would be happy. Those eyes, which, with my continuing silence, grew more and more filled with worry. I looked right into Nola's incredible ice blue eyes, and I lied.

"Um, nothing to worry about, really."

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	27. World Spins Madly On

**Hey guys, **

**so I know it's been ridiculously long since I updated last, and for that I am truly sorry. **

**Here's the deal: I've just recently finished high school (For good), so as you can imagine there was a whole load of business over those last couple months. I had 9 exams, which required a massive amount of study and put together with everything else it took to get through the end of the school year just meant i found it impossible to find much time to write. But in the end I finished as Dux of my school- which I guess is like Valedictorian? So all the work paid off. **

**I really didn't want to compromise the story by churning out mediocre chapters just to get an update in, so it's been forever, and I'm so sorry you all had to wait, but that's why. **

**Anyways, I am now on my Summer holidays, meaning I have like 3 full months off before I start university (!) in March.**

**So, hopefully updates can be way more regular from now on. **

**I really hope I haven't lost too many of you by leaving it so long, I love knowing there are people who care about my story, so if you've stuck with me, thanks a million. **

**As always, review review review! THey're really what inspire me to keep writing this! :D**

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Chapter 27- World Spins Madly On**

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_**Nola**_

"Um, nothing to worry about, really."

I looked up at Brady's face, waiting for more. His words said everything was fine, but his eyes…his eyes told a different story. I felt like I could tell he was trying to mask whatever he was feeling, but he was struggling with something. There was something bothering him, something he _was_ worrying about.

When he just continued to look down at me I broke the silence.

"Are you sure? Nothing? What did Sam need you for?" I asked quietly.

Brady pulled away slightly, grabbing my hand and kissing it. "Ah…nothing too serious, really, there were just a few vampires that needed seeing to- but honestly, it's done, and there's nothing for you to worry about."

I was getting the slightest impression he was trying to downplay something, but when I opened my mouth to pursue it further he cut across me.

"Come on, babe, let's just get to bed, okay?" he said, giving me a sweet smile and leading me back into his bedroom.

I felt a little freaked out. It seemed there was something out of the ordinary about whatever vampires had needed "seeing to", because Brady never came home from patrols acting weird before. But then, maybe I was just being stupid. I did seem to have more than a knack for over-analyzing things.

I thought I'd have trouble sleeping with all these thoughts whirring around in my head, but as it was almost five am, and I was completely exhausted, it didn't take long before I drifted off in Brady's arms.

Before I knew it I was waking up the next morning. I registered suddenly that I felt cold, which was strange for when I slept over at Brady's.

As I slowly became more and more awake, I rolled over in the bed, finding myself alone in it. I looked around. Brady wasn't in here. The clock next to the bed read 9:21, so he could have been in the living room, I guessed, but we'd both had such little sleep I guess I just expected him to still be there.

I got up, groggily and put some clothes on, but as I left the bedroom I found the apartment completely empty. Brady's cell phone was sitting on the kitchen counter, completely useless. Strange.

I just assumed he must have gone out to get something, and went back into the bedroom to wait.

After almost an hour I was past confused. It was just so strange for him to do this. He was usually so thoughtful about this sort of thing, he would have left me a note or something, but still, I don't think he'd ever even left me in the morning before anyway. Having waited a while longer, with still no sign of him I just decided to go home. I guessed he had something pack related or something, that he had to get to urgently, it was the only explanation. But I still couldn't stop wondering about it. Like I said, it was just something that had never happened before, so had me a little weirded out.

_**Brady**_

Despite having had a pathetic excuse for a night's sleep, I woke up pretty early. I felt like shit.

No surprises, I could not stop thinking about this impending war, and had a feeling it would be a weight that would only get heavier on my mind over the next week or so, before the time actually came.

I knew Nola would be out to it for another couple hours at least, so decided to go for a run- in human form- to try to clear my head a little.

I hadn't done this in so long, but realized almost immediately that I missed it. Even before I phased for the first time, running had been something I'd always loved to do. To me, it was an ultimate way to relax the mind. Just running through the deserted tracks of the woods, completely alone. It had always been my way to cool off, so I'd depended on it a lot in those times after the first transition- when my temper was out of control. But since Nola, I hadn't done it very often at all, hadn't really needed to, I guess.

I could feel myself letting go of some of the tension of my thoughts, which seemed to have been going at a million miles per hour ever since Sam's haunting little speech last night.

By the time I'd really started to relax, I started to think only of Nola.

You know in movies- mostly the really sappy kind- where someone's thinking about a person, and there's like a sort of slow motion montage of silent scenes, probably set to some lame slow music or something? It felt like that.

All my thoughts just kind of seemed to slow down, and these perfect images of Nola just sort of ran like a montage through my head. Her smiling face on the pillow just inches away from mine in the morning. The look of care-free exhilaration on her face as she jumped off those cliffs yesterday. Her laughing, really laughing, her whole body animated as she really got going. Her looking at me, watching me with her eyes. Those _eyes. _

Suddenly, my reverie was interrupted as I breathed in a familiar scent. Even unphased we had keen senses of smell, and I picked Collin up before he was in my line of sight.

When he finally met me, it was without his usual good-natured jibes or cocky grin.

"Hey," I said as he approached.

"Hey, man." He said, sounding pretty down and defeated. "Should've known you'd be somewhere out here. This whole thing's pretty fucked, huh?"

"You got that right." I said as we walked along back in the direction of La Push.

"Told Jaime this morning- fuck, that's something I don't ever wanna have to do again."

"How'd she take it?" I asked.

"Well, that's the thing." He replied with a grimace, "you know how she is- always so cool and relaxed about everything. I think…it's like she's _trying_ to act that way about it, but it has her pretty shaken up, I think. It's just hard to see her like that, you know?"

"Yeah." I sort of grunted. I hated this, not being able to offer him anything positive. The situation sucked all round, but there was nothing we could really do except try to fight it out when the time came.

"What about you, how'd telling Nola go?" He asked, a question I'd known was coming, but dreaded all the same.

"Uh…well, I've not told her…yet."

"Oh, she didn't stay with you last night?" He asked.

"Um, no, I mean, she did, but I just…I don't know man, I can't do it."

"Oh no, Brady, you do not want to go down that road." Collin warned seriously.

"I'm going to tell her," I said quickly, "Just not…right away."

"No, dude, you can't keep this from her. It'll just make things worse."

"I don't think that's true. I just don't see the point in putting her through all that worry just yet. I just…I look at her, and I just can't do it."

"It's hard man, it's hard on all of us, but trust me, you _have _to do it. She'll only resent you for it later, especially if she finds out from someone else."

I thought about it for a while, as we walked at talked, Collin all the while trying to convince me I was being an idiot, not telling her.

"I don't know, man," I finally said, "I guess I'll try, but I need you guys to make sure no one else tells her. None of the imprints can talk to her about it or anything, until I've told her, okay?"

"Yeah, I'll put the word out." He said begrudgingly, but this can't go on long, I mean it, Brady. You have to really try to tell her."

Talking to Col was good, although it didn't exactly make me feel better about the situation. But I knew he had a point, I had to try to talk to Nola.

When I got back home she'd gone, though.

She wasn't in the apartment.

Looking at the clock on the kitchen wall, I noticed I'd been gone a lot longer than I'd intended to be, so she must have woken up to find I'd left, without telling her where I was going.

I felt a pang of guilt at the thought of her waking up, confused and alone in the apartment. I'd really meant to be back before she'd woken up.

I picked up my phone off of the counter. There was a message from Nola telling me she'd gone home, and to text her when I got the message.

I took a quick shower and changed, then text her to let her know I was on my way over.

I walked up the path to her house, feeling the familiar pull leading me in her direction.

By now I could take in her intoxicating scent and hear her musical voice as she chatted away happily to her mom.

The front door to her house, which opened into the kitchen, was open and I leaned against the doorframe, taking in the scene. She knew I was there, looking up and beaming at me for a second while continuing the conversation she was having with her mom, who sat at the breakfast table beside her.

God, she looked good.

She just looked so carefree. So _happy._ And it completely undid my resolve.

I could get through these next few days keeping the knowledge of the war to myself, knowing that Nola got to feel this happily relaxed for a while longer.

"Morning, Brady." Paula said warmly after a moment.

"Morning," I replied, entering the room and taking the seat Paula gestured me into, on Nola's other side.

"Hi," Nola said with a smirk, as I sat down beside her.

"Hi," I replied with a genuine smile. It felt good to smile after the last few hours I'd had.

"So just where did you get off to this morning?" she asked with raised eyebrows, as Paula got up and started putting her breakfast dishes into the dishwasher.

"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that- I just went for a run and ran into Collin, so was out a lot longer than I'd meant to be. I really thought I'd be back before you woke up."

"Yeah, you had me wondering there for a while," she said, "but I'll forgive you." She smirked, patting my cheek with the palm of her hand.

"So, anyway, mom and I were just making plans for a Seattle trip." She announced.

"We're in desperate need of a girls' shopping day." Paula interjected.

"So we were thinking we'd drive up this afternoon and shop tomorrow. We'd probably be home tomorrow night." Nola said.

"Sounds…fun" I replied.

"Oh, well you know, you're welcome to come, Brady, you know we always need someone to hold all the bags," she laughed.

"Har-har, yes, I'll think I'll leave you two to it." I said.

"Well, hon, I think we should hit the road no later than around one," Paula told Nola.

I followed Nola upstairs to her room, where she closed the door behind us.

"I have to pack a few things for tomorrow, but since we're not leaving for a couple hours, I think we have some time to ourselves up here." She said, smiling, and wrapping her arms around my waist.

I kissed the top of her head, breathing her in. "God, you smell good." I whispered.

_**Nola**_

I went about gathering up some things from my bathroom and bureau while Brady sat on my bed watching me.

I wanted to change for the trip so I chose some clothes and peeled off the tight jeans and t-shirt I'd already been wearing.

"Damn, my girl is hot." Brady remarked from behind me.

I smirked, turning around to find him sitting on the edge of my bed, giving me a look that always made me melt with desire.

"I really am sorry for not being there this morning, by the way." He said, not taking his eyes off of me.

I smiled at him.

"That's okay," I said, "But you know, it's a shame, because you really missed out." I said, walking slowly closer to him.

"Oh really?" he questioned raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah." I nodded. "You see, I woke up, very naked, very alone, and very much wanting you." I said, now standing just a few inches away from where he sat.

"Well I'm really sorry to have missed that," he said quietly, placing his large, hot hands on my bare waist and making me tremble slightly, "it's just too bad your mom's down stairs." He groaned.

I shook my head, my eyes not leaving his.

"She's out. Said she had errands." I breathed, moving forward and onto his lap, straddling him, my knees on the bed, and my hands on his neck.

His eyes blazed at my words, and he slowly moved his hands down my body to my butt, kneading it a little.

I pushed him back so he was lying down, and crawled up so that our faces were level.

Suddenly he sprang into action, grabbing me and rolling me over, before assaulting my lips with his own. As we kissed, his hands roamed around my half naked body, before finding their way behind my back to skillfully unclasp my bra.

I grabbed at his t-shirt, wanting to even the playing field, causing him to frantically break away from me for enough time to pull it quickly over his head and cast it aside.

Desire pooled at my core, as he attacked my neck, chest and breasts with kisses, before taking a nipple into his mouth, causing my to let out a loud sigh.

I could feel his growing hardness telling me his desire matched my own, and felt for the waistband of his shorts with my hands.

I pushed them down as far as I could, letting my feet take over to flick them off of him the last part of the way, until he was completely naked above me.

My hands laced in his hair, I pulled his head back up to be level with my own, kissing him forcefully once again.

"God, I love you, Nola." He said, as we broke for air.

Feeling down his smooth hard torso, my hands finally located his hard-on, making him groan into my neck, as I wrapped them around it, finding a rhythm and sending him shaking above me at my touch.

"Ungf…fuck, Nola" he grunted, kissing down my neck and shoulder as I continued.

After I brought him to his close, he reversed the roles, kissing down my body again, this time venturing down to the waistband of my skimpy underwear, the only fabric still between us. Frantically he pulled them off me. I moaned in anticipation as he kissed up each of my thighs, finally finding his way to my bundle of nerves, and with care and skill, he proceeded to do me in.

"Oh, _god!" _he had me crying out before long.

"Brady, please," I groaned. "I want you." I panted.

He understood, kissing his way back up until we were eye level, when he finally chose the moment to plunge himself into me at full force.

"Oh!" I cried out at the surprise of the motion, bringing my legs together around him, causing him to penetrate deeper still.

As he took control, varying the speed and force of his motions his large member seemed to go deeper than ever before, hitting me in all the right places as I became lost as to when one orgasm ended and another began.

After a while, his release had us collapsing down onto the bed, where we lay panting and feeling utterly fulfilled.

"God, Brady, that was amazing." I breathed, looking into his eyes on the pillow next to me.

"What can I say babe, that's what I do." He joked, cockily.

"I'm gonna miss you tonight" I said quietly gently brushing his abs with my fingertips.

"Yeah, I'll be alright, though, I'll just call up my other girlfriend." He replied.

"Oh you're hilarious!" I exclaimed sarcastically, slapping him on the chest.

"No, seriously, you know everything's better when you're there. The bed's awfully lonely with just me. And ah, if I get to thinking about just now, it's going to be ah, very, very lonely."

I smiled, "I guess the only thing for it is to exhaust ourselves before I leave then, huh?"

"I think you're on to something there, babe" he replied, raising his eyebrows before springing into action once more.


End file.
